Mama Elephant & Studio Calico Blog Hop ~ Blue Note + Cole

Hello everyone!!  Did you know that the Studio Calico December release features 2 sets of exclusive clear stamps designed by Mama Elephant?  The response to last month's Cuppa kit Mama Elephant stamps was amazing, and I'm sure you'll love the stamps in the December card kit, Blue Note, and add-on, Cole.  My first card is using the Blue Note card kit...

The Blue Note kit included a packet of the cutest plastic stars and that's what I build my card around.  I actually used the stars to emboss a cool pattern over the front of my card.  I just sprinkled the stars over my panel and put it through the Big Shot (no embossing pads at all).  Then I blended ink over the panel to really bring out the embossing.  Fun stuff!  My next card uses supplies from the Cole add-on...

Seriously, this add-on has the cutest papers and embellishments!  And I'm in love with the sentiments in that stamp set!  I wanted to do a non-holiday card with this set, so I went graphic and CAS.  My favorite part is that natural bark star which has been inked up in gold *sigh*.  

That's it for me, folks!  Don't forget just like last month, there's a giveaway going on at this hop!  Click on over to the Mama Elephant site for all the details and to get the blog hop list! 

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Paper Smooches November Blog Hop

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the Paper Smooches December release with you!  FIVE new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase at 12:01am, Eastern time...on December 1st.  You will find them HERE.  To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up prizes! 

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog
• The prize - a $25 gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win!  (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes) 
• You have until midnight MT on Sunday, December 1st to leave a comment
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, December 2nd to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners

Ashley Marcu

Betsy Veldman

Emily Leiphart

Erin Lincoln

Heidi Van Laar

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Kalyn Kepner

Karolyn Loncon

Kim Kesti

Laura Bassen

Laurie Schmidlin

Mou Saha 

Pamela Ho 

Summer Fullerton

Teri Anderson

To increase your chances of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop
• Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog)

I have two projects to share for the hop today, a card and a magnet.  For both of projects, I used the new Polaroid dies.   My card uses the polaroid frame die.  First I inked the clouds directly onto the card front.  Then I die cut the sunburst (Power Rays Die) from vellum.  I inked the vellum a bit with yellow into look like sun rays.  I love how the inked vellum looks over the cloud background!  


The sentiment is a die cut from Quote Tags.  That font is so pretty:)  I resisted the urge to add dots or sequins, and I'm happy I did:)  CAS just makes me happy!

My second project is a magnet using the camera die from the Polaroid set.  This die is so intricate!  I couldn't resist putting together a full-color version of the die cut.  It was just a matter of cutting different colors and assembling.  Just like the real thing, this die cut has a slit at the bottom where the picture is supposed to pop out of the camera.  So instead of using my die cuts on a card, I decided to make a magnet picture frame.  The slit of the die is just the right size to fit a standard wallet size school photo.  I'm sure my son will be thrilled his mom put up his school picture, heehee!  The best thing is that the picture is totally removable and you can change it up every year.  

Thanks for stopping in today for my first blog hop with Paper Smooches!  A big Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in states:)  

Mahalo and Aloha,
jj

Avery Elle - 'Tis the Season

Hi guys!  For this holiday week, we're just having a bit of fun over at Avery Elle and just sharing any Avery Elle project we are working on!  I'm still in "must get holiday cards done" mode, so I'm sharing a card I made with Winter Wreath (again, lol)! 

The wreath is hanging from the tree from Let It Snow and it could not have been easier to do!  You could even mask the bow to make it a one layer card for mailing.  

Another Christmas card in the bag!  Thanks for stopping by today!  Kasia and Chunyuan are also sharing their holiday week cards.  If I don't catch you later this  week, Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate!  I'm expecting a big group over at our house and I could not be more excited!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlights: Inline Letters

Hi folks!  Today the ME DT is highlighting the set that I used last week during the Stampede, Inline Letters:)  

This card was inspired by a fun chalkboard menu sign I saw at a local coffee shop.  Sorry for yet another chalkboard card, but it's just too.much.fun!   The chalkboard look has a certain handmade charm that I can't resist:)  

That's it for me!  I hope you've been enjoying the Mama Elephant projects this week.  Please go check out the other Inline Letter projects today and check the Mama Elephant blog for the designer series throughout the month:)  

Mama Elephant/Kryssi
Emily Leiphart
Geralyn Sy
Jenn Biederman
Nichol Magouirk
Pearl Lui-Chan
JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle: Winter Wreath

Hey everyone!  You've seen this before, and I'm using the new Avery Elle set Winter Wreath again! 

I love that this set can go rustic, folk arty, and even blingy:)  For my card, I went blingy with lots of gold.  I upped the shine by first stamping with gold Delicata ink and then heat embossing with sparkle gold embossing powder.  In person, it looks like molten gold with flecks of sparkly gold glitter.  With the banner, I did a stacked image look for a little more detail.  The final detail was swiping gold ink around the edge of the panel to create a frame.  

Hi-five, another Christmas card, done!!!  Thanks for checking in today!!!  Don't forget to visit Heather who's sharing a card today too!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlights: Confetti

Hey y'all!  It's day 2 of the Mama Elephant November release highlights!  I know this one caught your eye last week on the Mama Elephant blog:)  It's the new set, Confetti!  

This set has really jumped to the top of my list of favorite sets to use!  Those sequin stamps are fun, fun, fun:)  For my card, I wanted the look of a vellum packet filled will sequins being sprinkled all over my card.  First I used the Embellished Tag die to cut a vellum tag.  Then I traced the tag in pencil onto the card front.  That way I was sure to get all my sequins "inside" the tag.  I stamped a plethora of sequins (masking some of them) and colored them with various cheery Copic colors.  I decided to stitch the vellum to the card since there was no good way to disguise the adhesive.  I just stitched around the stitch marks already on the tag!  

Thanks for checking in today!  Go check out what the rest of the DT has done!

Mama Elephant/Kryssi
Emily Leiphart
Jenn Biederman
Pearl Lui-Chan
JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlights: Four Seasons

Good Monday, all!  We're starting this week with the first of the Mama Elephant November release highlights!  You've seen them on the Mama Elephant blog, but this week, you get a chance to know them better:)  I'm working with the set, Four Seasons today!  

I've been neglecting the inside of my cards for far too long, so you'll see that this card actually has the sentiment on the inside:)  For the front of the card, I used the circle seasons stamps which I stamped with my Distress Inks in a color gradient to match the seasons.  I put all the stamps on the block at once and inked on each color one by one (just put the ink pad directly to the stamp).  I love the little bits of   mixed color and the way the winter blue came out dotty like snow.  I couldn't recreate that if I tried, lol!  For a little bit of detail, I stamped the same images onto a separate piece of cardstock which I die cut with the Embellished Tag die.  You've seen this technique a million times, but I really like how it gives it something extra without feeling too busy.  

Here's a peek at the inside sentiment which is from one of my all time favorite ME sets, So Breezy.  Again, I did the color mixing inside (with Copics) to mimic the stamped front.  

Thanks for checking in today!  The stamp highlights will continue tomorrow, but today please be sure to visit these gals to see what they've done with this fun set.  You're going to love them!

Mama Elephant/Kryssi
Emily Leiphart
Geralyn Sy
Laura Bassen
Jenn Biederman
Nichol Magouirk
Pearl Lui-Chan
JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant November Stampede

Aloha all!  It's the 15th and that means, Mama Elephant Stampede time!  I'm stampeding with the new coordinating sets, Inline Letters Stamps and Creative Cuts Dies!  {You probably already know this, but these sets are already live on the Mama Elephant site}  The stamps and dies work together or separately (pssstt, the dies also work with previously released Flashy Letters).  

For my card, I went straight for the dies as I am wont to do;)   It just so happens that the size of the Inline Letters fits exactly on the Bold Banner!  I've been doing a bunch of dark based cards lately, so I wanted something a little lighter. So I went with the gold/mint/vellum combination.  The banner is cut in vellum and the letters are cut from a gold card stock embossed with a crosshatched pattern.  I used the Stitched Rectangle die (one of two dies included in the Femme Frames set) to create the tilted panel.  

And to ramp up the cheer factor, I stamped sequins and stars (from the new set Confetti) in gold.  I have to tell you that those sequin stamps are my new faves.  Those gold discs are just made with a standard hole punch on the same card stock I used for the letters.  I get crazy when there are too many shades of gold, so this is a good way to get a perfect match:)

That's it for me today!   Here's the list of stampeders, so you won't miss anything:) I know you're going to have fun seeing all the new sets! Those girls do some amazing stuff, don't they?

Mama Elephant/Kryssi

Laura Bassen

Jenn Biederman

Emily Leiphart

Pearl Lui-Chan

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Geralyn Sy

Nichol Magouirk

As with all the stampedes, there's an awesome giveaway going on!  Mama Elephant is giving away one of each of new stamps released!  (Winner will be chosen at random from collective blogs, so be sure you visit each Stampeder;)  The winner will be announced the last day of the stamp highlights.  You have 3 chances to win:

• Leave a comment on this blog post.
• Like/share Mama Elephant on Facebook: 
  http://www.facebook.com/mamaelephant
• Follow/tweet Mama Elephant on Twitter: @HeyMamaElephant

Thank you so much for stopping by!!  Stamp highlights start next Monday, so I'll catch you then!    

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle: Let It Snow

Hi everyone!  Today's Avery Elle is the beautiful Let It Snow clear stamp set.  Yes, this is technically a Winter set, but the images could definitely be used year-round (see below;). 

Thanksgiving and Christmas rolls into one large season for me and I have been knee-deep in holiday preparations since Halloween;)  So today, I wanted a palate cleanser so to speak.  I noticed lately that I like to give out birthday, thank you, and encouragement cards.  This encouragement card is super CAS, but so sweet:)  I used the lines from Merry & Bright and the sentiment from Funky Monkey.  Hope this little card cheers someone up!

Thanks for checking in today!!!  Don't forget to visit Heather who has a beautiful card to share today!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop 2013 Giveaway Winner!!!

The winner of one spot for the OCC Holiday Card Workshop 2013 is...

That would be Sabrina, who won with this comment!  

Congrats Sabrina!!!  I will try to contact you, but if you see this post, please email me at ribbongirls at gmail dot com.  Thanks to all that commented!  Even if you didn't win, I do hope you sign up for the class!  I've taken quite a few of the classes and I've never regretted it!  I posted the info again below:)  

Aloha and Mahalo,
jj

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's some info on this holiday class:

Join instructors Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Laura Bassen, Shari Carroll, Debby Hughes, and friends for Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop 2013! This holiday card-focused class is sure to give you plenty of ideas for sharing the holiday spirit with your friends and family. With over 17 videos and even more cards, go-anywhere instructions, inspiring techniques, a helpful forum, an inspiring gallery, shopping discounts, and giveaways galore, this class is truly the pre-holiday gift that keeps on giving.

The holiday magic starts on November 11, 2013 -- we hope to see you in class! For more information, visit Online Card Classes.

Moxie Fab Thanks Blog Hop

I don't know if you're heard that Cath of the wonderful and inspirational Moxie Fab World is stepping down:(  After we all picked ourselves off the floor and wiped away the tears (no lie!), something happened that I've never seen before! Led by the awesome Keren Baker, hundreds of carders got together (secretly) to organize this blog hop to say goodbye, give thanks, and wish Cath well!  

So as the saying goes, I won't cry that it's over, I'll smile because it happened:)  You're the best, Cath!  I will miss you words of wisdom, inspiration pics, and sense of humor.  

There is a ton of folks on the hop, but you're on track if you came from my pal Donna Mikasa's blog!  The next hop is my bud, Jocelyn Olson.  (If you get lost, just head back here for the full list of hoppers)

To Cath, you will always have a special place in my paper-lovin heart:)  Your perspective will be missed!  See you around!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop 2013 Giveaway!

This week has been a blur for me and I almost forgot to post my giveaway!  I'm so lucky to be guesting with the Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop 2013 and they were nice enough to offer one spot to giveaway!  For those of you who have taken OCC classes in the past, you *know* how chock full of tips and techniques these classes are.  And the teachers make it so much fun! 

Here's some info on this holiday class:

Join instructors Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Laura Bassen, Shari Carroll, Debby Hughes, and friends for Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop 2013! This holiday card-focused class is sure to give you plenty of ideas for sharing the holiday spirit with your friends and family. With over 17 videos and even more cards, go-anywhere instructions, inspiring techniques, a helpful forum, an inspiring gallery, shopping discounts, and giveaways galore, this class is truly the pre-holiday gift that keeps on giving.

The holiday magic starts on November 11, 2013 -- we hope to see you in class! For more information, visit Online Card Classes.

To enter the giveway, just leave a comment on this blog post by Saturday, November 9th by midnight EST.  I'll choose a random commenter for a free spot in the class (yay!).  So get commenting now:)

Avery Elle: Simply Tags ~ Christmas

Hi guys!  I'm playing around with the new Avery Elle set from my pal, the so-very-talented Nina Yang! Nina is so good at designing well-rounded sets with endless options!  This set happens to have 2 matching die sets, but I worked with the stamps and dies here...

When I saw those dies, my eyes went straight to that ornament topper!  Oh, ornament topper, where have you been all my life?  That little die inspired me to take this set in a different holiday direction:)  I paired the topper with the Rounded Diamond dies to make reverse cut, glitter ornaments.  Ummm, gold, reverse cut, glitter ornaments?  Love.love.love.

For a little more detail, I used the snowflake image to stamp a design on the glitter paper.    The sentiment is from Winter Wreath and it's heat embossed in what else?  Gold:)  I think I'm going to try this technique with the Modern Leaves dies too!  

So happy to have another Christmas card to add to the stack!  Thanks for checking in today!!!  Don't forget to visit Heather who has a beautiful fall card today!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Rock Chalk Baby Blog Hop for Erin!!

SURPRISE, ERIN!!!!  Welcome to our surprise baby shower blog hop for our sweet friend, Erin!!!  Ever since we "met" over a year and a half ago, the gals of Gallery Idol 2012 have been a tight knit group.  At any time, you can find groups of us chatting on FB, visiting each other's blogs, or checking in on Instagram.  So when one of us has good news, we all love to celebrate!  Well, we've been keeping this little blog hop a secret  for months (no small feat with this group;) and I'm so happy to finally pop the surprise on the blog.   So, this card's for you, Erin!!!  

[If you're wondering about the Rock Chalk name, it refers to chant that the University of Kansas fans use at games (especially basketball).  Erin is a rabid Jayhawks fan, lol, and now there will be one more Jayhawk fan in the world!]  

Doesn't this image just make you feel all warm and gooey inside?  (if not, you may need to see a doctor;)  Erin's got the nursery done up in gray and yellow, so this stamp was just perfect:)

Go check out all the cards the other GI12 gals have made for Erin!  And don't forget to stop by Erin's blog and leave your good wishes!

Aga Malyszek

Amy Kolling

Anita Recksiedler

Cheiron Brandon

Dana Warren

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Elena Roussakis

Heather Campbell

Jennifer Rzasa

Jennifer Ingle

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Jocelyn Olson

Joscelyne Cutchens

Laurie Willison

Miriam Prantner

Nina Yang

Taheerah Atchia

Tessa Wise

Wida Yusufi-Miller 

To Erin, we LOVE ya and can't wait for little baby D's arrival:)  MUCH, MUCH love to you, sissy D, and Daddy!  Your GI12 family is sending lots and lots of baby love!

Aloha,

jj