Thought for the day -

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." Helen Keller

January 31, 2009

Wow -do you know what today is? It's January 31st, and you know what that means? It's almost February! This was the 1st thing my 5 yr old said to me this morning. You see his birthday is in February- not until the 18th mind you, but he is counting the days!

Yes it's January 31st and I'm proud to say I finished my valentine project prior to the Feb. 5th deadline!! Yippee! My 15 yr old step-daughter Brittanie is in one of the high school choirs (there are 4) and they are doing their annual fundraiser, which is a silent auction. Their job was to acquire, through donations from local businesses, items to auction at their next performance. Well it just happens to be on Feb. 12 so we put together a Valenting gift "basket". I'm calling it a "Husband's Valentine Survival Kit", lol. We have included everything for a great evening- a restaurant gift certificate, movie passes, whimsical little heart shaped candles, a darling little mug filled with candy kisses, and a long stemmed red rose (candy), and gift certificates to Harry & David, and last but not least a valentine card!

My little project meets the criteria for this weeks challenge on Cute Card Thursday, which was to show your valentine creations. I will start with my card- I saw this card in Paper Creations magazine and loved the style. I carried the same color theme throughout my project-red & black-one of my favorite color combos.

The Mother Teresa quote stamp is from Stampabilities and I love it! The cardstock is Stampin Up and the dp is Doodlebug Designs, and of course a prima flower.
Now onto my "basket", which is actually a wooden crate with a slide out lid. I purchased several of these crates after Christmas and love them!! I painted the crate with acryllic paint in lipstick red and accented with black cardstock and dp. The black/white paisley paper is by Flair Design but I have no idea who the musical notes paper is by but had to include it since the whole project was inspired by the choir. (think love songs)




The hearts on the top of box are felt fusion by Queen & Co. I love all their felt!
So with that done I am off to clean house, ughh. It will be a quick job -I have Saturdays sketch challenge to get to, lol.
Janice

Friday, January 30, 2009

TGIF!!! I have a real quick post today. I made this card 3 days ago and am just now getting around to posting it. It was a quick little valentine card I made for Jordan's kindergarten teacher. I used the sketch from the Sketch Saturday challenge. I think I might make it in just under the wire, LOL!


















I love this little stamp-very appropriate for a kindergarten teacher- I just wish they had made one with a little boy, lol. Both the image stamp and sentiment are by Paper Pretties. I love this dp- I found this line of paper online (can't remember where) and I love it! It's from the BaaBaa Black Sheep line made by piggytales.com. I made the little bookplate using my cricut and painted the x & o with lipstick red acrylic paint. I have a couple more valentine cards to make and I'm done! I think I'm getting a little warn out on the valentine thing!



I'll be back tomorrow with a few more cards and another valentine project I am just finishing up.
Janice

Sunday January 25, 2009

Todays Challenge....Magnolia Vs Stampavie

The title of this weeks challenge is Double Trouble. I should have know I was in trouble just from that! The challenge was to use any 2 stamps from either Magnolia or Stampavie. This was a challenge for me in every sense of the word!! Since I've been only stamping a short time my stamp collection is not as diverse as I would like. Then along came January and those stupid resolutions, lol. My husband & I are on a very strict budget so there won't be as many stamp purchases as I would like. Anyway I digress- this was a challenge because I only own 3 Magnolia stamps and 1 Sarah Kay stamp and none of them are related. So I decided to go with a winter/spring theme.

Challenge 2- matching winter/spring paper. I was wanting something bright and sunny for the spring half but had no winter paper that coordinated well with it. So I came up with the pine paper which is from a winter collection of papers.


















Challenge 3-Copics. Again, I am limited in this area as well. I need a whole lot more of them!! Overall, I think it turned out pretty well. I used my flock for the first time on the coat trim. The color is pixie pink and I am now hooked on this stuff!! It is much easier to use then I would have thought and it does add a nice touch.
Hope everyone has a great week.

Take care,

Janice

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Hi!! I finally have gotten back in my scraproom. I have been blog hopping like crazy since One World, One Heart has started. I never knew there were so many amazing blogs out there and so many wonderful artisans!! If you are not familiar with OWOH see the post on the top of my blog and be sure to register for my giveaway.

Todays card is for the Friday's Sketchers challenge and this weeks sketch was fabulous for what I was trying to create. My step-daughter is a member of her high school's choir and their big fundraiser is coming up. They are holding a coffee house with a silent auction on Feb. 12. Each student is required to get donations from local businesses for the auction. Since the event is only 2 days before valentine's day we came up with the idea of a husband's valentine survival kit! We are hoping to include candy, movie tickets and a restaurant gift certificate.






The card I have created is a pocket card and will hold the movie tickets. Don't you love the itty bitty stamp from Karen Lockhart. I received my order on Tuesday and finally got to ink this one today! Susana has the new Karen Lockhart stamps and they are great! I ordered a few others so I'll be busy this weekend!

Did I mention the theme for this years coffee house is Movie Madness. They are doing music from the movies. This should be a fun night. I think this card is so appropriate for the giveaway and the theme of the coffee house.


Well that it is for now. I'm off to watch a movie with hubby. I promised him I wouldn't spend the whole night up in my scraproom, lol.
Don't forget to sign up for my blog candy.
Janice

Monday, January 19, 2009

Happy Monday! Only one day to go until our big day. I really wish I had scheduled tomorrow off so I could watch all the festivities from Washington. I've never been all that much into politics but I do think this is an exciting time. I will be setting the recorder!

I made this little thank you card for one of Jordan's teachers. Jordan is my youngest & is in kindergarten and the after school program. Mrs. Ogg teaches one of the after school classes-Music Theatre and he just loves her. Tomorrow is the last day for the class and they will be performing songs from Peter Pan. Jordan will be one of the "Lost Boys" singing I Don't Want To Grow Up. Too cute. He's been practicing for weeks...over and over and over LOL. So "we" made this card to go with her gift.
This is also for the sketch saturday challenge- Sketch #34. This is a great sketch.





















All dp is School Days by Daisy D's, except for the lined note paper, which is by Creative Designs. The thank you stamp is from Stampin Up and the teacher quote was computer generated. Don't you love the apple stick pin! It's made by Around the Block. I made the drama embellishment with my cricut and highlighted the face with a galaxy white marker.


















This is the inside of card. Message is very short & sweet. I asked Jordan what he wanted to say and this was it!


Thanks for looking,
Janice

Saturday, January 17, 2009




Hello Everyone....how is your weekend going? Is it cold in your neck of the woods? It is very cold here again today and windy. Both my daughter & I are under the weather. Sore throats & just feeling icky. Spent most of the afternoon napping. What a waste of time, lol.



I just have a quick post. This card is for the Friday Sketch Challenge. I had alot of fun with this sketch.I decided to do a very simple image- no coloring involved. I think it goes well with the papers motif. This is a Stampin Up stamp from an old set but I still love this set-it's called Garden Collage. I used Tim Holtz distress ink to stamp image.

The dp is by Basic Grey-Infuse. I love these papers! I am partial to pink & brown. The pink dp is by K&Co. I used my cricut to cut the flowers and added the pretty pink gem brad. The scalloped lace trim was done with a Martha Stewart punch and then I used a corner punch for the top corners- no idea who it is by. I've had it forever. The sentiment is a sticker by Karen Foster and I think it goes perfectly with the theme of card. I don't normally photograph the inside of my cards but thought I would show this one. Very simply done but pretty.

Well I think I am ready to go lie down again. I sure hope this is a 24 hour thing. I have tons I want to work on tomorrow. Hope the rest of your weekend goes well!

Janice

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Happy Thursday Everyone! Another long weekend is almost upon us (at least for those in the U.S.). I can't wait, lol. I just have a quick post for ya today. I've combined 2 challenges in the one card. Whiff of Joy's Monday Challenge was to use the colors purple & green for the chance to be guest designer for 2 weeks!! You know I wouldn't pass that up. I used my new Melinda Blowing Kisses stamp which just arrived yesterday. I just love her!

The 2nd challenge was sketch challenge 211 from SCS. I loved this sketch.

I will definitely be using this sketch again!

Supplies used:
Stamp: Melinda Blowing Kisses by Whiff of Joy, colored using copics and I used Stickles on her wings. Embossed paper by Paper Adventures called Leaf Nouveau-mint
Purple paper by Deja Views. I don't know the maker of the green & purple polka dot paper-I've had it in my stash forever. You can't tell from the photo but it is felted.
Cardstock- Bazzil, hearts & stars were cut using my cricut.
Well that it is for today. See you again tomorrow.

Janice