Friday, January 1, 2016

Merry Cat-mas and Happy New Year!!!



This is our sweet Jetta, age 12-1/2......one of my son's black kitties.  She and a few other cats never successfully made the move over to this house when we relocated 4 years ago from the old place (which is over a couple of pastures and through what I call "Coyote Alley").   I don't know how many times we brought our little Jet-Girl over here and she traveled back to live on her own in the old barn.  Every so often for the first two or three years we lived here, she would show up over here for a few days and then disappear back over to the old house.  She hadn't been home (here) for over a year, though the current residents at the old place told us she was still alive and kicking.  Well, on Christmas morning, who should show up but our little Jetta!  What a sweet Christmas surprise.  We were all delighted....and none more so than our son who loves all black cats.  We brought her in, fed her some canned cat food, rabies vaccinated and dewormed her, took pictures (since we never know when we might not ever see her again), and really enjoyed loving on her with that lush winter coat.  As is her usual MO, she stayed around for a couple of days and took off again.  (sigh)  Her visit was a brief, but delightful, gift.  


Hi, Friends......

Oh, my goodness......my Christmas stocking and the packages under the tree were full of crafty supplies for me this year!!  

My Christmas stocking is the same one I have been using for over 50 years.  I remember receiving it when I was a small child, but I don't remember how old I was....somewhere around 4 or 5 years.  Over the years, it has held all sorts of goodies, but none better than this year when my hubby and kids stuffed it full of delights:  chocolate and washi tape!!  I put in an order at JoAnn.com for some splurge crafty goodies and let hubby wrap the box it shipped in to put under the tree for me.  Do you spy all those Graphic 45 Raining Cats and Dogs items????  :)  I ordered a number of things that had been on my wishlist and were half-price.  Didn't he do a great job of Christmas shopping for me?  My kids really went wild choosing washi tape, so now I can stop hoarding and start using it!  Candy + Craft Supplies = Perfect Christmas gifts.  :)

Okay, on to my card......

I made this card for the Show us Your Pussies Cats Only Challenge Blog - Krimbo Kitties theme. I am late getting in on the fun, but Ike had this free digi that she designed on the blog. It was so adorable, how could I resist????....(Even though I have only ever used a digi once or twice before, and it is all still very new to me!) This is the first of Ike's challenges at SUYP, but I hope there will be many, many more!!!


I colored the image with Spectrum Noirs and matted it with a red panel dry embossed with my Darice - Diagonal Stripe Background folder.  I used a festive scrap of Christmas paper and a bit of thrift store velveteen ribbon.....a nod to kitties who invented velvet on their ears.  :)  I added a few of the soft foam snowflakes that I am still trying to use up. (Yes, they are the ones where some don't even have the right number of sides!!  Really....can somebody please remind me in one year to donate the rest of these to my local thrift store and buy some properly constructed ones!!!  I'm soooooo serious!!!)  I mounted this all on a kraft card base.  Fun!!!  

Thank you, Ike, for this super-fun digi and exciting new challenge blog!!!  Now I have one Christmas card made for 2016.  :)  Happy New Year to everyone!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Show us Your Pussies Cats Only Challenge Blog - Krimbo Kitties
2. Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks #208/209 - Use Snippets
3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Party (Hey...Anytime there are cats in the Christmas tree, believe me....they ARE having a party!! lol...)

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Wrapped With Love - Waffle Flower



Hi, Friends.....

Quick post here to wish you all a Merry Christmas Eve and to share a last-minute Christmas card I made for the Waffle Flower Challenge of Layered Stamping.  I used one of my "marker refill water" backgrounds and two different Waffle Flower stamp sets:  Flower Circles and On My Mark


The Flower Circles set is ideal for Layered Stamping.  


To make the Christmas balls, I took one of the patterned circles and turned it over to stamp a (mostly) solid circle with distress inks from the reverse.  Then I stamped it right side up to show the pattern in Versamark right over the solid circles and heat embossed with silver powder.  


I used the stamen stamp for my ornament "stems" by turning it over and stamping the reverse, making a solid piece, instead of three little lines. (See the photo of the stamp set above.)  For the ornament strings I used the single stem stamp, which I gently straightened into a straight line on my acrylic block.  Both of these were stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver powder.

The sentiment is from the On My Mark set, which also was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in silver. A few shimmery sequins and matting completed the card. Hope you like it!!
****************************************************
Hey, exciting news!!  Our son has moved his bedroom down to the basement and I have his old room as my craft room now!!!  YAY!!!  We have the Christmas tree in there right now and my things still  sitting all over the place in boxes, but here is a shot of the view out one half of the window.  (I would have done both halves, but the screen was doing its optical interference trick and looked ghastly.  lol... )



This is a cherry tree outside the front door, which badly needs to be trimmed and pruned....the tree, not the front door! It has the most lovely blossoms in the spring (the tree, again, not the door!)....can't wait to have that view out my craft room window.  I also am excited to get a bird feeder up soon that I can see through my window.  :)


You can see our festive icicles and snowy Idaho landscape. I do love living here where we nearly always have a White Christmas!!

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone.  Remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!  

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1.  Waffle Flower December Challenge - Layered Stamping

2.  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland
3.  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Sparkle

Monday, December 21, 2015

WINNER of Mystery Prize for Coffee Lovers Hop



Hi, Friends.....

Sorry I am a little late getting the winner posted for my Holiday Coffee Lovers Hop MYSTERY PRIZE.  Bad back day today and the meds totally wiped me out.  Ugh...  

Congratulations goes to:   mandysea
Hooray for my Tasmanian follower!!!  I still have your address, Mandy, so I will get your little package mailed out to you soon to begin its trek over the Pacific and over the equator.  The parcel won't know what to think being mailed in winter and arriving in summer!

Thank you for the wonderful comments each of you left.  I appreciate all of you.  Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

<3 
Janis

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Retro Christmas Card



Hi, Friends......

I am here with a quick card I didn't get a chance to post yet.  I made this with leftover things from my cards here and here.  


This card features a layered embossed background using DCWV scraps and my Darice - Interlocking Circles folder, an Echo Park journaling card, and some wonderful 3-D Christmas stickers with the fun little VW bug from my past, I mean my stash.  I added a tiny "pinch" of baker's twine for the smoke curling from the chimney.  LOVE!!!  

I will figure out who won my mystery prize on the Coffee Lovers Hop and try to get that posted tomorrow.  

I am still baking cookies and getting cards ready to mail.  Not sure how Christmas manages to sneak up on me so cleverly each year.  What would I do if it fell in March or something??????  lol...

Hope your homes are bright and merry and your friends and families are gathering around.  We have a fresh blanket of snow and more on the way.  White Christmas, here we come...  I LOVE Idaho!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. The Male Room Challenge #25 - Christmas or Seasonal Greetings
2. Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks #208/209 - Use Snippets
3. Amusing Challenge - Happy Holidays
4. Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
5. DL.Art Thankful Thursday Challenge #170 - Use Red/Green or Blue/White alt. Thank You
6. Cards in Envy - December Challenge - Very Vintage Christmas Card
7. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Just A Pinch of..... Bakers Twine
8. Simon Says Stamp - Work it Wednesday November Challenge - Holiday Cards
9. Choux Choux Challenge #2 - Christmas/Winter
10. Craftin Desert Divas Craft it Up Link it Up Christmas Linky

Friday, December 11, 2015

Coffee Lovers Hop and Unity FWF Card







Hi, Friends......

Are you as excited as I am that the Winter Holiday Coffee Lovers Bloghop has begun?????  So many fabulous sponsors and awesome prizes for commenting and linking up!  I hope you will join in!  


HolidayCoffeeLoversBH_Logo

For this card, I used the sweet Unity - Java Friend set I received as a prize last time around from my crafty friend, Gail, at Crafty Nomad.  (THANKS, Gail!!)  

I STILL have a bunch of leftover backgrounds from my marker refill water experiment!  I stamped one with Unity grab bag snowflakes and Distress Inks (Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood).  I also misted the dry snowflake stamps with water and stamped them on the background for some watermarks.  I love this effect!


I stamped both the image and sentiment from the Unity set with Versamark and heat embossed it with silver.  Yum!!!  Then I used my waterbrush to make a big watermark around the sentiment and some little thought bubbles.  I also used it to remove some of the color from the mug.  Love how this turned out!!!!

Now I have a little giveaway for you......problem is that I don't know what it's going to be yet!!! lol... This hop kind of sneaked up on me and I don't have anything picked out yet. But if you are interested in this small mystery prize, please state in your comment: "Yes, count me IN!" or something very obvious to that effect. This giveaway is open to all my readers world-wide. Comment on any or all of my Winter Holiday Coffee Lovers Bloghop posts by Friday, December 18th at 11:59 pm Pacific.  One random winner will be chosen. 

Thanks for stopping by.  There are tons of things happening in the papercrafting blogosphere, so I will see you around!!!

<3 
Janis  

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
3.   Shopping Our Stash Challenge #230 - Use your UFOs (Unfinished Objects) I used one of my marker water refill backgrounds.


And now for some creative whipped cream!!!






Not whipped cream, but too funny!

My First Box Card!!!





Hi, Friends....

Blogger is giving me fits tonight, but I'm here to share my very first box card....if all goes as planned!  Warning:  my formatting is waaaaaaaay off because of this Blogger weirdness.  Arrgh.  

I was inspired by the tutorial challenge over at Mark's Finest Papers and followed the fun instructions for making the pop-up box card here.  




I used DCWV patterned paper for the decorative background panels. There is another coordinating pattern covered up by the flaps hanging down.  You'll see it later....








I used an ancient Christmas stamp set I got at a thrift store some time ago.
(First time it has seen ink at my house!) I stamped the images on scraps of white cardstock with Versafine ink in Olympia Green and then watercolored them with a very old set of kids' watercolors. (My kids are 26 and 29, if that gives you any idea of how old the set is!! lol..)







I love the vintage look of these festive images, so I decided to add a little bit of cotton fluff behind the panels. This reminded me so much of old decorations from when I was a child that used cotton for snow. It seemed to go with the images.


Since this is for a Mark's Finest Papers challenge, I used some of their images, too. I pulled out the PEACE from the Mark's Finest Papers - Crisp Winter stamp set. (This is a lovely set that I need to showcase sometime.  It is just stunning.)



I teamed the Peace with a fun little sentiment from my Mark's Finest Papers - Silly Shells stamp set: Glad TIDEings. :) The Silly Shells is a beach image set but I turned this around and, wonky spelling and all, used it on a Christmas card. :) I added a little snowflake from my Mark's Finest Papers - Calendar stamp set that maybe looks like a little starfish to go with the TIDEings. (Okay, maybe not.... lol...)

On the other side, I used a sweet little snowman motif also from my Mark's Finest Papers - Calendar stamp set. Since it is for a calendar, it is only Frosty's head. I added more cotton fluff for his body and some more snowflakes.




Collapsed.  Now you can see the other patterned paper.

The cool thing about these pop-up box cards is they collapse and fit flat into an envelope!!!  Yay!!  


I don't know why my camera isn't focusing well lately. I hope you can see my photos well enough. I will have to see what's going on with it. Ugh...




Hope you enjoyed the card.  It was a lot more fun to make than to post on here!!!!  :)

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this box card in the following challenges:
1.   MFP Tutorial Challenge - I followed the pop-up box card tutorial
 http://mfpstampshop.blogspot.com/2015/11/nov-blog-hop-final-day.html
2.   Double Click Connections - Use a Snowman
http://doubleclickconnections.blogspot.com/2015/12/wishing-you-happiest-holidays-brrrr-its.html
3.   Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets
http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2015/12/pixies-snippets-playground-week-206.html
4.   Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes Family Friendly
http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/2015/12/challenge-213-anything-goes.html
5.   DL.Art Thankful Thursday - Use Red/Green or Blue/White alt. Thank You
http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/2015/12/dlart-thankful-thursday-challenge-170.html
6.  The Paper Girls - Christmas
http://thepapergirlschallenge.blogspot.com/2015/12/challenge-93-christmas.html
7.  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Holly Jolly Days
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=3301
8.   Penny Black at All Sorts - Anything Goes must stamp
http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/2015/12/december-challenge-anything-goes-with.html
9.   Paper Issues - Christmas
http://paperissues.blogspot.com/2015/12/new-issue-owl-i-want-for-christmas.html
10. Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Christmas
http://addicted-to-stamps-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/challenge-115-new-dt-members-and-prize.html
11. Choux Choux - Christmas/Winter
http://www.chouxchouxpaperart.com/2015/12/christmaswinter-challenge-2.html
12. Amusing Challenge - Let it Snow
http://stampedblessings.com/2015/12/amusing-challenge-let-it-snow/
13. Craftin Desert Divas - Christmas Linky
http://www.craftindesertdivasblog.com/2015/11/craft-it-up-link-it-up-christmas-linky_29.html

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Twiny Christmas Cards




Hi, Friends.....

I am here to share a festive set of cards I made for Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities 2015. These were inspired by Jennifer's "Speedy Crafting - Using a Recipe" post here.  Again, I didn't really use a recipe, but I was very inspired by Jennifer's cards with the loopy twine underneath the panels.  I hadn't ever tried doing that before because it seemed like it would be hard to arrange and look "spontaneous" ....lol... (Oxymoron, right?  :) )  It really wasn't that hard, though, and I am pleased with the results.



This time I dry-embossed my three-scrap-strip background with my Darice - Checkered folder and used some older Echo Park Christmas collection ephemera from my stash.  



A few buttons from my neglected button box......

 No, it's not your eyes.  Sorry so bluuuurrrrrrryyyyy.....Ack! 

......and foam snowflakes that have the wrong number of sides on some of them!!  (Maybe next year I will have these crazy lop-sided things used up!!) .....


......all mounted on kraft card bases.  Done.  

Whew!!  That concludes my entries into Jennifer Grace's Frosty Festivities for 2015.  I want to say a huge thank you to Jennifer for all the fun and inspiration.  It is one of the highlights of my holiday crafting season!!!  

I hope you have enjoyed seeing me try new things and perhaps get some ideas for your own crafting.  Thank you for visiting!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card duo in the following challenges: