Mama Elephant December Stampede

****scroll down to see my Avery Elle post****

Hey everyone!  Today we're stampeding with Mama Elephant!  There's no release this month, but that just means we get to play a bit more with the fantastic November stamps:)  

Today, I have a pair of fun gift ideas using last month's sets Cup of Wishes and No Peeking!  Over the several years, I've been trying to be more thoughtful and less wasteful in my holiday gifting.  "Things" have been replaced by "experiences" like tickets to shows, season passes for amusement parks, and lots and lots of homemade food and hot beverages:)  So today I have a teabag holder and hot chocolate on a stick (more on that later:) gift wrap.  I embossed the teacups in gold to mimic lovely vintage china.  Then I colored the flowers with my copics.  

Here's a closer look at the gold embossing!  {BTW, I'm using a new embossing pad that is super juicy, so forgive the heavy embossing!  I used my older ink pad for just the flower below and that's more representative of what the stamps look like:)}

The teabag holder on the left holds 5 teabags.  For the wrap on the right, I made the "hot chocolate on a stick" with this recipe.  BTW, I've heard that you can eat the "hot chocolate on a stick" like fudge.  Not that I would know firsthand, lol!

If you want to try out these gift holders yourself, pick up the Silhouette studio cut files here!  This one file has both templates:)

Thanks so much for popping in!  If you're working your way through today's blog hop from the beginning, you should have arrived from Pearl Lui's blog!  The next stop on this stampede is Lexi Bridges!  If you've just jumped into this stampede, don't worry!  Just start at the Mama Elephant blog and you won't miss a thing!

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 

Joy Taylor 

Cheiron Brandon 

Julie Ebersole 

Mariana Grigsby 

Pearl Lui 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Lexi Bridges

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Teri Anderson 

While you're hopping, don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a GC for the Mama Elephant site!  The winner will be announced on the ME blog on December 5th!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Release Day #3 ~ Knotty

Hi everyone!  I'm back for Avery Elle's release Day #3 and today's set is called Knotty!  These classic nautical designs are perfect for all kinds of occasions, but especially for Valentine's Day:)

I don't know about you, but my husband is the hardest person to make cards for!  And Valentine's Day cards?  Fuhgettaboutit!  I have no problem writing the sappiest message inside, I just have the hardest time with the outside.  How do you make a manly (lol) card that's not boring or blah?  Apparently, nautical is the answer!  Here's what I'm talking about...

I just love how this turned out.  Just enough detail to make me happy, and not too many as to be fussy!  The anchor image was stamped and the background colored with copics.  The porthole window was made using a pair of circle dies.  The rivets/nails are just "holes" punched with a small hole punch from the same woodgrain paper and glued around the window ring.  {Note: A little tip for stamping on textured paper.  Stamp on the back side, the smoother side.  This tip really comes in handy when you're having a hard time matching cardstock colors!}  Got time for another masculine nautical card?

This time I used the compass rose stamp to create a 3D compass!  Again, I used my circle dies to create a metallic case for my compass.  It's hard to see, but the ring is made from shiny silver paper.  I hand cut a little compass needle and it's popped up on some foam over the face of the compass.  For a more 3D look, I used a ring of black foam under the silver compass ring (looks great from the side).  Much simpler to make than it sounds!  Kind of reminds me of a cool swiss army watch.  I think hubby would approve!  

That's it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you click on over to these links to see the fantastic projects Jamie, Kasia, and Chunyuan have made with this set:)

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

Kasia Curry

Chunyuan Wu

I'll be back on tomorrow with one more release!  Don't forget that Jamie is offering the chance to win a $25 store credit!  All the details are on the Avery Elle blog!   The new release items will be available to purchase on December 5th on the Avery Elle site!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies:

Knotty stamp set (will be available December 5th)

Cherry red card stock

Ultra Pure Smooth White card stock

New Moon black card stock

Fog gray card stock

Avery Elle Release Day #2 ~ Fun With Letters

I'm not in the rotation today for sharing my project (you'll see mine on Group Project Day:), but the other gals have posted some amazing stuff with the new set Fun With Letters!  This is one of those sets with so many possibilities!

Go check it them out!  Lots of fun stuff to see!

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

Heather Campbell

Kasia Curry

Chunyuan Wu

And visit our fabulous December Guest Designers, Julie Ranae and Amber Gest-Kerstel too!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle December Release Day #1 ~ Lots of Love

***scroll down to see my TAWS post***

It's the first of the month and that means Avery Elle release Day #1!  This month Avery Elle is releasing 4 new sets!  I know everyone is knee-deep in holiday prep, but these sets will get you thinking about Valentine's Day (yeah, I went there;)  Today we're all featuring projects using the new set Lots of Love!  

This first card is about as girly as they come!  I used my favorite sentiment in the whole set:)  To play on the sentiment, I created a gatefold card that opens up to...

reveal a larger ribbon!  This one was a little tricky to put together, but I love the final look.  {Tip: Do a dry run with repositional tape before permanently gluing the pieces together}  The bow is decorative, but it's also keeping the card closed;) 

This next card was a no-brainer!  Chalkboard art seems to be all over the place lately (like here and here) and this set was just screaming to be done up in chalkboard!  I heat embossed all the sentiments in white and stamped over with white ink.  Added a little more white ink smudged here and there and penciled in a frame, done and done.  Cute but still masculine enough for hubby;)

That's it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you click on over to these links below to see what wonderful projects Jamie, Chunyuan, and Heather have made with this set:)

Jamie Gracz (Avery Elle blog)

Chunyuan Wu

Heather Campbell

I'm not in the rotation tomorrow, but I'll be back on Monday with another new set!  Don't forget that Jamie is offering the chance to win a $25 store credit!  All the details are on the Avery Elle blog!   The new release items will be available to purchase on December 5th on the Avery Elle site!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies:

Lots of Love stamp set (will be available December 5th)

Framed Fonts stamp set

Ultra Smooth Pure White card stock

New Moon black card stock

Guesting over at The Alley Way Stamps!

Happy December folks!  Yes, it's December:)  And it's going to be a fun one for me!  Every Saturday this month, I'll be sharing a pair of cards featuring 2 newly-released sets from The Alley Way Stamps!  (Thanks Alison and Arielle!)  

My first card features the set Petal Pushers!  As the name implies, this is technically a floral set but it's full of lots of fun graphic shapes that can be used for all kinds of cards.  I got some new ink pads last week, so I thought I'd go colorful and graphic with this one:)

For my second card, I used the holiday set No Peeking and the bonus set Holiday Sparkles!  I couldn't resist using the snowman (he's too cute) and this frosty guy is on the move!  You know I love interactive cards (as seen here and here), but this one is a little bit different...

Same general concept as shown here but this time I hid the slider parts.  How much fun is that? 

If you want to try this out yourself, click here to download the Silhouette studio file for the slider panel and the snowdrift.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And go check out the The Alley Ways Stamps blog to see all the fun NEW stamp sets!  Everybody enjoy the weekend!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

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