Avery Elle March/April/May Release Blog Hop

Woohoo!  It's Avery Elle release time and this release is amazing!  In addition to usual stamps and dies, we've also got new inks and papers!  

Today, I'm showing some projects using the new Homemade stamp and die set.  This small set is centered around this cute little spoon!  It's perfect for making little tags for homemade goodies.  If you want to try the set in a different way, how about a get well card?  

I used the spoon with the stamps from another new set, Get Well.  With that sentiment, how could I *not* make a shaker card;)  For my "sugar", I used some coarse glitter.   And don't you love the font of the "get well" sentiment?    

I also made another quick card with the Homemade set for a certain ice cream lover I know.  (The ice cream stamp is actually a cupcake from this set)  The little scene is framed out with the You're Invited die.  BTW, did you notice the new paper color?  This is my favorite new color:)

To celebrate our March 2015 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, March 1st to enter.  The winner will be announced on the Avery Elle Blog on Monday, March 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 email (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)

The next stop on the hop is the awesome Yainea, but here's the full hop list just in case...

Avery Elle / Jamie
Karolyn Loncon
Chunyuan Wu
Caryn Davies
Heather Campbell
JJ Bolton (that's me:)
Yainea
Melania Deasy
Katie Gehring
Maska Vanacker 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Aloha,
jj

Paper Smooches February Blog Hop

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches March release with you!  TWO new stamps and TEN new dies will be available to purchase on February 28th at 8:00pm pacific time. Once our release goes live, you will find our new products HERE.  

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! 

The prize - a $25 gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.

Here are the details:

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog to win the $25 prize.
• 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) 
• Deadline: You have until midnight PT on Sunday, March 1st to leave a comment. 
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, March 2nd to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.  

Here are the details:

Ashley Marcu

Emily Leiphart

JJ Bolton (that's me)

Jocelyn Olson

Kalyn Kepner

Kay Miller

Laura Bassen

Laurie Schmidlin

Michele Boyer

Pamela Ho 

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)

Wanna take a look at my card?  I used the new set of cloud dies and they go perfectly with the PS rainbow die!  For my card, I created an inlaid die cut rainbow and then I reverse cut the clouds to make a shaker card.  

The shaker clouds are filled with these little acrylic gems that I found online.  I'm a sucker for sparkly;)

Now it's time for you to hop on over to the next stop on the hop, the amazing Jocelyn Olson!   

Mahalo,
jj

Egg Bunting with Avery Elle

Hi guys!  Stopping in with an Easter card that I made using, of all things, the Avery Elle Bunting set!  This builder set has a bunch of little elements that are perfect to use in all kinds of ways.  I happen to use it to make a colorful egg design:)  

For a more muted pastel look, I covered the design in vellum.  I love the softness it brings to all the ink colors.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Craft Room ~ Finishing Touches

While other couples were exchanging expensive gifts and going out to fancy dinners, hubby and I were Craigslisting.  You know your hubby loves you when he spends the entire Valentine's Day holiday moving second hand furniture for you;)   

I've been patiently surfing Craigslist for the last year looking for a large hutch to finish off one last section of my craft room (here's a look at the last wall).  My criteria for the new piece was 1) tall, 2) open and closed storage, and 3) white, and 4) made of real wood.  I have quite a few Ikea pieces, but I keep prefer to keep the heavy duty stuff in metal cabinets  (like my pattern cabinets) or real wood furniture.   I have chosen to use freestanding furniture  only as opposed to built ins because some day we may have to convert this into a main floor bedroom for my dad.  And, as everything else in my craft room, this last purchase was done on a budget!

Meet my new hutch...

Technically, I think it's an old dresser with a hutch built on top of it.  All I know is that it fits the space perfectly and it's sturdy as heck!  Bonus, gold hardware!  I'll always be updating the office in little ways, but I'm happy to have that last piece of furniture in place.    There rest of the room is pretty much untouched, but here's a few new pics...

 

While we're talking craft room, here are a couple little storage ideas that I haven't shared in my past craft room posts.  

The first is for Copic storage.  I keep them in pencil cups from Target in the top of my Raskog cart.  This system works really well because the both the cart and the cups are mobile.  So much more convenient!  Another Copic tip, create a color chart.  I keep mine clipped to the side of my cart with a magnet.  A color chart is essential because the color on the tips of the Copics do not always match the actual color of the pen.   Go figure!

Another tip for storage is a magnetic knife rack.  If you are going to do this, get a real knife strip.  Don't use the cheapie Ikea one (super weak and you don't want a pair of scissors falling on your foot!).  This is a good way to store light weight tools or even dies.  

This next tip is not so much storage, but more convenience.  When you are planning your room, ALWAYS take in to account where the electrical outlets are!  I cannot stress this enough!  I've used industrial velcro to attach a power strip on both sides of my work table.  Makes it so much easier to use my glue gun and embosser (which I keep in an old metal loaf pan for safety).  As you can see, I've also attached a roll of paper towels. 

For other craft room posts, please visit:

Craft Room ~ October 2013

Craft Room Revisit ~ July 2014

Craft Room Work Table ~ July 2014

Craft Room Storage ~ July 2014

Thanks to my hubby for the heavy lifting and thank you to you for stopping by! 

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Love You the Mostest

Just a sweet little Valentine's Day card today:)  I have a simple Valentine's Day card today with my favorite Paper Smooches monster dressed up with a little 3D bow tie.  I love his underbite, lol!  

(Baby Bow Die, He Said, She Said, Falling for You, Uplifters)

This card is a wedding card, but it goes with the LOVE theme;)  There's lots of white in this card, so it's a bit hard to photograph.  I used the new church die and made an inlaid die cut card.  Behind the windows in the card, I made a mini shaker with large gold glitter.  It's hard to tell but the church and the frame are cut in shimmery paper which looks lovely in person.  I like that it's sweet but with a little bit of fancy;)  

(Church Die, Chains Dies, Simply Said)

Hope you and your honeys have a wonderful day!

Mahalo and Aloha,
jj

Sweetness with Avery Elle

Hi everyone!  I can't believe it's almost Valentine's Day already!  I don't make as many Valentine's Day cards as I used to now that the kids are teenagers, but my little nieces are always happy to get special valentines:)  Instead of the usual hearts and such, I used the Berry Good stamp set for this Valentine's Day card.  

This card took a bunch of masking, but I love the cherry on check pattern!  BTW, the check design was made using a ruler and a Copic.  So easy!  And again I used the Finished Frame die to create the overall panel (still loving that look!)  If you're wondering where that little oval came from, I used the oval tag die from the Alice Tags set.  I cut it once and then flipped the die and cut again.  You know I love getting more from my dies!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj