Sunday, December 27, 2009

Good Sunday evening everyone.  This is a very late post but thought I would get it in tonight since it has been a while since I've posted.  I have been very busy over at Sunshine & Giggles.  We are preparing for our big blog hop on January 4th which will be introducing both a new line and a new illustrator and we are very excited.  We are also running a huge sale - all rubber stamps are currently 50% off and all digis are priced at $1.00.  Just click the sale link on my sidebar to go directly to the sale.

Tonights card is for the Midnight Madness Sketch challenge.  There challenges are one of my favorites!

Here is this weeks sketch.

And here is my card.

These photos just don't do this card justice.  This paper is gorgeous! I love the burgundy and green hues with the gold.  It's by dcwv and is from the Once Upon a Time collection and is called Enchanted Paisley.  I made my card for my parents 49th wedding anniversary which is on New Years Eve so the colors with the glitter are a good match. My sentimetnt is from Inkadinkadoo and my little love birds is by Mo Manning from Digital pencil.  You can find this image here.  My burgundy ribbon and card stock is from Stampin up.  My sentiment ink is Martha Stewart in Gold. I use little gold rhinestones for the embellishments.

Thank you for stopping by and be on the look out- I plan on being much active with my blog postings,haha!

See you soon

Janice

Monday, December 21, 2009

Good Morning everyone! Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner! I have one more gift to pick up this week that's on layaway and a few things left to wrap and I am done. I am so behind this year but it will get done.

Sunshine Monday's is on hiatus until January so today I have a few photos of the gift I made for Jordan's teacher this year.  First up is the gift box.  This was a wooden crate I picked up last year during the after Christmas sales.  Harry & David sells there wooden crates and they make great gift boxes.  They normally sell for $12.99 but I got this one for $2.49!! I picked up 4 of them.  I painted this one Black Forest Green and decorated with various dp's.

BEFORE                                                                               

AFTER

The photos are not of the greatest quality. I took my pictures at night in my kitchen and the lighting was not the greatest. Also, let me just say that my walls are NOT colored pink!! My kitchen is painted red- Cayenne Pepper to be exact. You would never know it by these photos. LOL

These photos just don't do it justice but you get the idea.

The lid slides out and I have covered it in dp. All dp was applied with modge podge and I used diamond
glaze to attach my red velvet ribbon.  The bows were attached with glue dots.

For the inside I made a stamped candle with matching card, 4 dessert plates and little gift bags of various goodies.

The dessert plates are also hand-crafted.  The plates are fabric backed and I just love this Christmas paisley fabric.  I had made several of these plates years ago and decided to try it again.

My candle and card were made using the stamp Poinsettia from Sunshine and Giggles.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Christmas preparations are going smoothly!

Monday. December 14, 2009

Good morning everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was very busy.  We finally got our tree on Saturday afternoon and decorated it yesterday afternoon.  I am behind schedule on everything this year! The house was decorated Thanksgiving weekend but we got our tree a week later than normal and I'll tell you what it was slim pickens!! We have the cutest little Charlie Brown tree, haha.

I spent most of yesterday working on some homemade crafts for teachers gifts and hope to get them wound up tonight when I get home from work.  I'll be back with pictures- so far I'm very happy with what I've accomplished- and it's only Monday. I still have until Friday, hahaha. No procrastinating here.

Todays card is for Sunshine Mondays which features a stamp from Sunshine & Giggles.  This week I used the stamp entitled Snow Day!  Doesn't this remind you of your childhood.  My card is also for 2 challenges.
The first is the sketch challenge at the Midnight Madness blog.  They provided the sketch as well as theme which is winter wonderland.  The second challenge is over at Stamp Something.  There theme is also Winter Wonderland.

I just love this dp by Paper Studios. I bought several sheets of it last year.  It goes so well with this theme.

Be sure to visit the DT's blogs for there dose of Sunhine.  This is the current design teams last week with us and they have all been wonderful to work with! Their talent and time is so appreciated.  The new team will be on deck in January with our new line and a new illustrator so be sure to stop and visit Sunshine & Giggles.

Melissa   Nicole   Joni   Jennifer

Have a great day!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Good Morning! I trust everyone is recovered from their long holiday weekend.  We had a great weekend with my brother's visit.  We went to see A Christmas Carol in 3d-awesome movie with great animation and Saturday night we went to see the Predators play (hockey).  Fun, fun.

For those of you that  may have noticed, there was no Sunshine Monday post yesterday.  But we're back today!  Today we are happy to be taking part in the sketch challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches.
Mel always comes up with the best sketches and this week the challenge is being sponsored by Sunshine & Giggles.   The Sunshine gals are all participating in the sketch challenge so after you visit Tuesday Morning be sure to visit the design team for some great inspiration!

Here is this weeks sketch.

My card this week is a Christams card and uses the Little Guardian Angel stamp.  I was trying to follow the sketch precisely but now that I look at it (my card) it kind of veers off a little.   I couldn't get my little dove centered without covering my angel-anyhow here is my take.

This dp is absolutely beautiful but does not photograph well but I think you can see the pretty gold swirls.  It also has deep burgundy and dark green running through it. The paper also coordinated quite nicely with my braided ribbon.  In addition to the card I decided to making a corresponding project as a little gift and did a stamped candle.

While blog-hopping yesterday I discovered a new challenge-well new to me and the challenge this week was to make a decorated candle or candle holder. The challenge site is called Winter Wonderland.  Lydia, one of the posters to the challenge has a great tutorial on using digital stamps for this purpose.  If you have never done this and have a digital you would like to use be sure to check out her blog here.
Here is my candle to go with my card.

This is really a very simple technique and the outcome is just incredible to behold! Ok-incredible for me.  I love when things come together easily.

Well there you have it- 2 projects complete in one evening- quite an accomplishment for me!!

Now head on over to Tuesday Morning Sketches and have a go at this great sketch-you may get lucky and win some new stamps, hehe

Monday, Nov. 23, 2009

Good Morning!!  I am so ready for this short work week to be over! I love Thanksgiving week.  My brother is arriving Wednesday night from Virginia and will be with us for the holiday.  Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday,  even over Christmas.

Today I am sharing 2 projects with you.  The first project was one I did with Jordan and was his homework assignment for last week.  Their task was to disguise their turkey so he would be spared from being Thursday's entree!  The concept was totally Jordan's idea- he wanted his turkey to be a rock star. First grade and already into the rock star thing...hehe.  He knew he wanted to use my guitar stamp and we used my cricut for the clothing.

Before the transformation:                                   After transformation: Tommy Tunes the Turkey

                              

Jordan was thrilled with the outcome- the dude looks so cool.  Don't you just love the do-rag, haha.

Ok on to my card.  Todays card is for  Sunshine Monday where we feature Sunshine & Giggles stamps. Today I used A Visit From Santa stamp.  I followed the sketch challenge over at

Midnight Madness.  They provided a great sketch and also requested that this weeks card be a Christmas card so this challenge fit my image perfectly.  I also had a little help from Jordan on my card.  He's always asking if he can help when I'm making a card and the usual response is an adament NO! For this card I actually asked him if he wanted to help. I wanted this card to have a child-like and vintage look.

My dp is from My Minds Eye Signature Christmas line and already had a distressed look. I sewed around the edges and distressed them with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink. 

For my stamped image I used versa mark and embossed with chestnut embossing powder by American Crafts.  Jordan wrote the letter to Santa and I sponged with my distress ink.  I used my nestie label 4 for the sentiment, which was computer generated and 2 gemstone brads, ribbon, and my little stocking charm that I found in my stash.

This will be Nana & Papa's card from Jordan this year.

Be sure to visit Sunshine & Giggles design team to see what they have in store for you this week.

Also, you if you would like to share your talent in exchange for some free stamps Sunshine & Giggles has a design team call on. For all the details go here.

Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by-

Janice

Monday, November 16, 2009

Good Morning! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Our weather this weekend was fabuous!! I wish I had spent more time outside....before it's too late. haha

I did spend a great Saturday evening with some friends crafting.  Sonia organized this little gathering to get a jump start on our Christmas cards. How many did I get done....not a one!  I am working on gift bag holders for Jordan's class for his Christmas party.  Last year I purchased a box of coasters - a box of 800! So I have to find ways to use some of these.  Splitcoast has a great tutorial for these little gift boxes.

Each little box uses 5 coasters so I counted out 110 coasters (22 students) and managed to get all 110 covered with dp- both sides! Now it is on to the assembly process.  I was able to get 1 assembled last night for this weeks
Sunshine Monday project.

These are the cutest boxes once assembled!  I used ric-rac ribbon on this one with the fun snowman paper(don't know who it is by). My image is called Hang On! from the current Christmas/Winter line at Sunshine & Giggles.  This line is perfect for this project.



I will be back later, hopefully before Christmas, (hahaha) with a picture of all 22 assembled with their little goody bags.  I think this will keep me busy over the next couple of weekends.

Sunshine and Giggles has also gone digital! The whole Christmas/Winter line is now available as digitals as well as in rubber.  I had always said I prefer my rubber but since I started using digi's I am hooked. I love being able to resize them for various projects. Don't have that versatility with rubber, do ya!
Be sure to visit Sunshine's Design Team to see what they have to offer this week.
Melissa  Nicole  Joni  Jennifer

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

Good Morning!!  Are you ready for another week? My overtime has been cancelled until further notice- which probably means next week, haha. So I plan on getting some cards made this week.

I promised Jordan I would reduce my time on the computer this week. I've spent the last week building a new blog for Sunshine and Giggles and he feels neglected.  So this week we're going to spend our evenings together.

Today is Sunshine Monday brought to you by Sunshine & Giggles Stamps. As I mentioned we now have a new blog so be sure to stop by for a visit.  I am using the Little Guardian Angel stamp for this weeks card and it is also covering 2 challenges.  The first challenge is for Stamp Something which offers a recipe challenge- 2 papers, 1 ribbon and 3 embellishments. It is also part of the Stamp Something for Jaimie card drive.  This is such a tragic story.  Jaimie is an eleven year old New Hampshire girl who survived a break in in her home.  She was brutally attacked by 4 knife wielding teenage boys and her mother was murdered. Be sure to check out the Stamp Something for Jaimie blog for further information on where to send your card.

My second challenge covered is a sketch challenge- don't think I can make a card anymore without a sketch, haha. Sketch Saturday provided this awesome sketch this week!

This sketch works just perfectly with the recipe, doesn't it!

It's a bit hard to tell in this picture but I really did use 2 dp's. They are from Graphis 45, from the bride to baby line. I just love the soft colors in these papers.

I used gold stickles on her halo and iced blue stickles on her wings. All cardstock is from Stampin Up and the image was colored with my copics.  I used my MS laced scallop punch and the little roses are from Prima.  Be sure to check out what the Sunshine Girls have in store for you.

Melissa   Nicole   Jenn  Joni

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great week!

Janice

Monday, Nov. 2, 2009

Good Monday morning to you all! How was everyone's halloween? We had a pretty busy weekend. Jordan is in cub scouts this year and they had big halloween bash Friday night. Greg & Jordan went as Darth Vader and a clone trooper. Greg works nights so he misses the cub scout meetings but took a vacation day to go to the party with Jordan. They had a ball! Then, of course, Saturday night they went trick or treating. This is the 1st year Greg was home for trick or treating. I stayed home to hand on candy. It was a pretty quiet night. I think we had maybe 15 trick or treaters. We don't have many young children in our neighborhood.


Yesterday Jordan and I went to see the Michael Jackson movie "This is It". I was a fan back in the 70's and 80's- yes I am dating myself here! hehe. I must say the movie was very good. Despite all the negative's about Michael, there is no taking away from the fact that he was hugely talented! Watching the rehearsals and all the behind the scenes stuff that goes into putting on one of his shows was pretty amazing. It's a very sad loss.

Ok now on to my card. This is my entry for Sunshine Monday. I have no other challenges-this was just a quick card and I'm afraid not a very great picture. My camera's batteries were low and not another one in the house. I usually keep a stash but am out.

I actually used last weeks sketch from Friday sketchers that I never got around to using for their challenge. I love the simplicity of this sketch.

My image is, of course, from Sunshine & Giggles and is called All I Want Is....
I used my cuttlebug snow flake folder for the background and a few strips of scraps I found in my stash. This is a great sketch for using those left over pieces . My cardstock is from Stampin Up, green ribbon and the image is colored with my copics.

Be sure to check out the other sunshine girls creation.

Melissa Jenn Nicole Joni

Monday, October 26, 2009

Hello Sunshine!!

Welcome to Sunshine Monday. How was your weekend? I spent the weekend getting caught up on some rest! It's that wonderful time of the year when the allergies kick it and I have yet another sinus infection. Oh well, I would still rather muddle through with a little sinus infection then be freezing cold!

Todays card is for Sunshine Monday, of course, and also for the sketch challenge over at Midnight Madness. Their sketches are always so much fun and a real challenge! Here is this weeks sketch:

And here is my card- this week I made a winter scene and used the stamp from Sunshine & Giggles called Hang On!

All may dp is scraps I had left over from last year but I love this paper! Cardstock is from bazzil, snowflake charm is from making memories and I used my cuttlebug snowflake folder on the white cardstock.

Doesn't this look like fun! I grew up in northern NY so I'm quite familiar with this scene, hehe. One of these winters I think we'll have to take Jordan to visit his grandparents to see what a real winter is like! We're lucky if we get one snowfall a winter and it never lasts more than a few hours.

Be sure to check out the other Giggle Girls to see what they have in store for ya!

Melissa, Joni, Jenn, Nicole

Monday, October19, 2009

Hello! Welcome to another edition of Sunshine Mondays, where the design team for Sunshine & Giggles brings you their creations. The stamp I used today is from the Christmas line and is called For You!

I am also multi-tasking with this card today! It is covering 3 challenges. The first challenge is from Friday Sketchers who provided this awesome sketch.

The second challenge is a color challenge and was provided by Basic Grey Challenge and they asked that you use the colors green, red and blue. Yeah! I got to use my figgy pudding papers. This is my absolute favorite line from Basic Grey.

And my final challenge is for Stamp Something which asked that you bling it on! I am running low on bling but I did manage to add a little! I especially like the sparkle in my fibers. I can't tell you how long that's been sitting in my stash!

Isn't she the cutest! I colored her with my copics and cut her out for the tag. What I need is an air brush system! But for now cutting will work.



Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Stampin Up
DP: Basic Grey Figgy Pudding
Image: Sunshine & Giggles
Fibers
Rhinestones- K & Co.
Sentiment on vellum: Stamping Station
Copics





Be sure to stop & visit SAG design team to see what wonderful creations they have in store for you!

Joni Melissa Nicole and Jennifer.

Just a side note- poor Jenn won't be joining us this week as she is done with the flu. Yuck!! Hope you're feeling better soon!

Hope everyone is off to a wonderful week!


Janice

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Good morning! So I was wondering if everyone out there is as computer saavy as I am, lol. I have been having issues with my camera and computer for the last couple of days. For some reason my computer and camera are no longer speaking! I plug my camera into my computer with an usb cable and nothing happens. So, I uninstall my camera program and try reinstalling....this takes forever to download! Nothing! So I decide to google my question and I get lots of responses. Maybe it's the cable....maybe it's the computer. One suggestion says to restore my computer going back a few days...try this and nothing. So now it is 21/2 hrs later and still I can't download my pictures.

Another response I found is to buy a memory card reader that plugs into the computer. Really!I didn't even know they made these. So I thought ok that's what I will do on Saturday...though I really don't want to pay for more stuff. I decide to try googling my question again-reworded. Finally! I find a one sentence answer- the guy that responded to this persons question probably was going DUH! Plug your memory card directly into your computer! I didn't even know that was an option! It worked!! This process is much faster than the usb cable way! Lesson learned and no money spent! Did I just hear a collective voice of Duh's?! HAHA

So now I have a card for you! My card is for this weeks challenge at the Midnight Madness sketch challenge blog. I only recently started playing their challenges and love their sketches!! Here is this weeks sketch:

And here is my card:










I had in mind making a thanksgiving card with this image of Mummu but when I saw this gorgeus paper I decided to use it instead. This is still a thanksgiving card, for my mother, though not in the traditional fall colors. When you think of thanksgiving don't you also think of food! Mummu is going to have a very elegant thanksgiving dinner!



Supplies:
Cardstock - Bazzil
DP-Graphics 45, Domestic Goddess
Ribbon-American Crafts
Image- Mo's Digital Pencil
Copics
Charms & embellies- ?? (in stash)

Be sure to visit Midnight Madness for this weeks challenge and to check out their blog hop. All the design team members have put together some really awesome fall crafts!

Enjoy your weekend!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Good Monday Morning to you all!! How was your weekend? I managed to get 3 cards made over the weekend. Two of the cards are for entry into Paper Crafts Magazine's World Card Making challenge. I managed to finish them last night and they go out into todays mail! Nothing like waiting until the last minute seeing as they had to be post-marked no later than today. I seem to be one of those people that work better under pressure! hehe. I also managed to fit in a little reading but just a little. I'm reading Dan Brown's new book and it very good. It's very suspenseful and I wish I could stay home and read today rather than going to work:(

I am happy to announce that Sunshine Mondays is back from their brief fall hiatus! We are ready to display Sunshine & Giggles new Winter/Christmas line. Nicole has come up with some really cute images! My card today features A Visit From Santa stamp. I think this is my favorite in the whole line. I tried something different for this card. Rather than coloring in the image I stamped it in frost white ink on black cardstock.

So what do you think? I thought the look went well with my dp-which, if you can't see it well, is The Night Before Christmas. My card also covers the challenge over at Cude Card Thursday, which, simply asks that you use a charm on your card.

Other supplies used:

I used my Nesties Label 4 for the sentiment ant the sentiment is a rub-on from EK Success that I found in my stash. No telling how long it's been in there. My cardstock is Stampin Up in black & kraft and the ribbon is also from Stampin Up- Taffeta ribbon in Riding Hood Red and the ornament charm is from Making Memories. The images are a little hard to see here but if you click on the image you can see it enlarged. I just love this dp but have no idea who it is by. I picked it up at Michaels and there is no name to be found.

Well that is it for me today. Be sure to visit Sunshine & Giggles other dt members to see what they are offering. I can't wait to see what stamps they've chosen to showcase.

Melissa Nicole Jenn Joni

Hope you have a great day!

Thursday, October 08/2009

Just a quick post for you...just a reminder that today is the last day to post your entries on the Midnight Madness challenge blog for their huge giveaway!! You can also enter for this contest at http://www.themommy-files.com. You could be eligible to win your very own Ribbon Box or a ScrapMaBob and then be a finalist in The Workbox Giveaway?Visit The Original Scrapbox website and check out the amazing workbox. I have had my eye on one of these for ages!! Here is what you need to save on shipping if you choose to purchase your own box- Enter this code when you place your order to get $100 off your shipping: 100Writes. Good luck everyone!!

Thurday, October 8, 2009

Good Morning everyone! Can you believe it is Thursday already!! I know you aren't supposed to wish your life away but I do live for Fridays...more playtime!!

My card for today is for 2 challenges. The first challenge is for this weeks Color Throwdown and this is the swatch they provided:

I did manage to use all but the yellow in cardstock....but you do see a little yellow in my laudry...in the image. hehe

The 2nd challenge is for this weeks Midnight Madness sketch challenge. I am really becoming addicted to their challenges...the sketches are always great and their blog is incredible. There is a pretty awesome tutorial this week so you should go check them out. Here is sketch 22-

All of my dp is from the Domestic Goddess line by Graphics 45. I just love their paper and I love these vintage ads- thought it was a perfect fit for my image of MuMu hanging her laundry. I used buttons and safety pins, brad and fabric remember snap for my embellies. I don't know if you can read the sentiment on the snap (poor picture tonight as the lighting was very poor) but it reads remember...perfect for the vintage ads.

Supplies Used: Cardstock-Stampin Up, DP-Graphics 45, Stamp- Mo's Digital Pencil, saftety pins, buttons, remember snap from Melissa Francis, brad, and image was colored using my copics.

Well enjoy your day!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Good Morning Everyone.....hope your week is going well. I managed to complete a card last night....after I watched a movie with Jordan. He is on fall break this week so we had to do a movie night. I finally got Dan Brown's new book but haven't had a chance to open it yet...maybe tonight.

Todays card is covering 2 challenges. The first is for Stamp Something which said your card "has to do with things from the Fall/Autumn Season. We'd like to see you create something inspired by apples or teachers or school." Well I got the fall colored papers and I included apples.

The 2nd challenge is for this weeks sketch challenge at Whiff of Joy. Rach provided this weeks sketch and it is a great one...

I love cards with lotsa layers and my card sure does have em! The prize offering this week is pretty special too- Katharina is offering the new winter club stamp kit -it has not even been released yet!! Simons Says Stamps is also offering a gift certificate!

If this years winter set is anything like last years it will be pretty spectacular!! They're definitely some of my favorite stamps.

I used my WOF apple tree stamp-perfect for a fall theme, don't ya think.

Supplies Used:

My background dp and checkerboard dp are both from Graphic 45- I just love their papers!! The striped paper is actually Christmas paper I picked up last year. I used ruby red and kraft cardstock from SU. The sentiment stamp is also from SU- it reads "good works are links that form a chain of love-Mother Theresa. I thought is was the perfect sentiment for a thank you card. My flower was cut with my cricut & the flower center is a fabric yo-yo with a SU build a brad. I love the build a brad concept!!

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a great day & manage to fit in some crafting.