Avery Elle Ahoy!

Hi everyone!  Just sharing a little card I made this week for a sweet friend on the West Coast!  I thought the nautical stamps from Knotty would be the perfect thing for my California friend:)  The little flag is from the To the Point set and seem to fit right in.  And don't you love how the little wave stamps can be turned upside down to make birds?  (Got that tip right from Jamie;)  Hope my friend likes it!  Hope you all have a great day and thanks for stopping in!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies: 

Knotty

To the Point

Mama Elephant January Stampede

Hey everyone!  We're mixing it up a bit this month over at Mama Elephant!  Instead of the usual schedule, Kryssi has been showing peeks of each set all week and the new release is on the website today!  Yeah, I said TODAY, like NOW!  Go ahead, I'll wait:)  

You back?  Great!  To kick off the release, we're stampeding!!  {Saying that always makes me want to yell "Yahoo!"}  We're so lucky to have the amazing Betsy Veldman and Lea Lawson joining us this stampede.  We're also joined by our first Guest Designer, Leigh Penner!  Leigh was chosen from the first Mama Elephant Challenge (see the details here)!  No more chit chat, let's get to stampedin'!  

Today I'm using the adorable Type It set.  This set has an vintage typewriter (is that redundant? lol!) and a bunch of matching sentiment stamps, typewriter keys, and a notebook page stamp (perfect size for Project Life journaling).  I had a little something different in mind for the sentiment so I printed it off on the computer and then stamped the little paper image over it.  {Free font called Traveling Typewriter found at dafont.com}  The sheet of paper is popped up just a little with foam tape on the top edge only.  

Just added a bit of sequin bling and some washi and there you have it!  So sweet:)  The next stop on this stampede is the lovely and talented Mariana Grigsby !  Here's the blog order if you get lost:)

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 

Cheiron Brandon 

Leigh Penner

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Mariana Grigsby 

Lea Lawson 

Pearl Lui 

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Betsy Veldman

While you're stampeding, don't forget to leave comments along the way!  Mama Elephant is giving away 3 gift certificates (chosen at random from the collective blogs in the stampede).  Winners will be announced on the ME blog on January 21st.  There will also be one surprise giveaway on the Mama Elephant Facebook page!  

Come back tomorrow for the start of the DT stamp highlights!  Can't wait to show you the sets:)  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Pink-free Valentine

Hi everyone!  I'm easing into 2013 with one little old card:)  I hadn't planned on taking so much time away from crafting but you know how that goes;)  Now I'm slowly gaining traction at the craft table and really looking forward to a crafty year!  

Now let's talk cards!  I live in a household of men and boys, so most of the the Valentine's Day cards around here aren't your standard frou-frou pink and red;)  I used one of the new sentiments from Lots of Love, and it was the perfect size to work with the typewriter cut file that I picked up from the Silhouette store.  I love how the piece of paper comes out of the typewriter!  

To create the texty background, I put all the letters and symbols from Fun with Letters onto a stamping block and stamped them with Versamark onto gray cardstock.  Simple but fun!  I hadn't planned on it initially, but I really love the gray/mint green combo!  

Here's to lots more cards and posts in 2013!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I'm looking forward to catching up on all the great stuff you've been working on too!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle Supplies: 

Ultra Pure Smooth White card stock

Fog gray card stock

Lots of Love

Fun With Letters

Saturdays with The Alley Way Stamps

Hey peeps!  It's Saturday and that means another pair of cards made with the new The Alley Way Stamps:)  Today I have a couple of colorful cards to share.  They both have lots of yummy color, but are at opposite ends of the design spectrum.  The first card was made with No Peeking and Petal Pushers.  I heat embossed the gingerbread men with white embossing powder and then blended on different distress inks.  Finished off each little man off with some enamel dots.  So cute!

My second card has a lot of color too, but a totally different feel!  I heat embossed the vine stamp from Petal Pushers in clear.  Then I used different colors of distress inks as watercolor paints.  (Just put a bit of the color onto a craft sheet, add in a bit of water, and paint the color on with a small paint brush)  This is not my usual style, so I was treading in new waters here!  But in the end, I thought the result had a really sweet organic quality which is what I was hoping for!  

Thanks so much for checking in today!  Don't forget to drop in to the The Alley Ways Stamps blog!  They're always hosting all kinds of fun over there!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle: The AEI♥U Challenge!

Fun news people!  Avery Elle is now hosting a new challenge!  Not only can you win stamps, but you'll also be featured as a guest designer during the next release!  So get yourselves on over to the Avery Elle blog for details!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant Color Challenge #1

Some fun news today!  Mama Elephant is starting up a new color challenge!  The first challenge runs from December 17th to December 30th with the winners being announced on December 31st.  And get this, there are 2 prizes!  One winner will be chosen at random for a store gift certificate.  Another person will be chosen as a guest designer for an upcoming Mama Elephant release!  How cool is that?  To play, just link up a card on the ME blog using the colors above (sorbet/tomato, aqua, white, and glitter) and Mama Elephant stamps.  {If you don't have any, just pick up the digi stamp over at the Mama Elephant blog}

For this challenge, I pulled out the We Click set.  I love that little camera:)  To dress up the camera I stamped some coral and aqua papers with stamps from Basic Borders (see the stripes in the coral and dots in the aqua).  

The bit of glitter comes from a piece of silver glitter foam that I used for my "flash".  The camera strap is pieces of embroidery thread braided.  I pulled the hearts from On Target and Midnight Letters:) 

This card was so much fun to make!  I hope you play along with the ME Color Challenge too:)  The challenge runs 2 weeks, so you have lots of time!  Can't wait to see what you all create!!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Saturday with the The Alley Way Stamps ~ CAS Flowers

Hi guys!  It's Saturday and that means another pair of cards with The Alley Way Stamps:)  Apparently I was in a very CAS mood when I made both of these cards, a flowery CAS mood:)  My first card today features stamps from Petal Pushers.  The flower is heat embossed in clear and ink is blended over it.  The flowers are all various sizes, but they are all cut from the same original stamp.  Underneath I added a vellum vase with stems drawn with a copic.  

My second card is a holiday poinsettia card stamped with snowflakes from the bonus Holiday Sparkles set.  After die cutting the flower shape, I heat embossed the snowflakes and then blended red ink over it.  For natural items like flowers, leaves, sky backgrounds, I prefer to use a blended ink for color rather than use solid cardstock.  The color has more depth and seem more natural.  

I bent the petals a bit so that they lift off the card.  Finally, a little bit of bling (okay, a lot!) and a sentiment!  So easy!

As always, I thank you so much for stopping by!  And go check out the The Alley Ways Stamps blog!  Those gals are always up to something fun!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj