Celebrate CHOCOLATE! CD40, SSS28

Hello, and Happy November! For me, once we get home from trick-or-treating, I feel like the holidays have officially begun. I just love the holiday season, so much fun and excitement. After I had children it became even more special for me. I love seeing the excitement in their little eyes when you walk into a store. I was so excited this year I had the girls write their Santa letters today. Although I am a little worried that they think Santa won the lottery...=) Anyway to start today I wanted to show you my little trick-or-treaters from last night. Here they are...

Now onto the card. I created a card today for two different challenges. I used the sketch from the Sweet Stop Blog, and the color challenge from the Color Dare Blog. The colors were Pumpkin Pie (or Really Rust), Soft Suede, and Almost Amethyst. Here is what I came up with.

I decided to make this as a birthday card for my MIL. Her and I were just discussing the importance of chocolate today, so I decided to use the Sweet 'n Sassy set "Chocoholic" set. I just love this set, but it makes me hungry...ha ha. I used the soft suede as the base. I used some patterned paper from the TAC set gentle beginnings as my almost amethyst. I then took another piece of soft suede and used the little chocolate chip from the same stamp set to create a background paper. I layered a piece of pumpkin pie with the sentiment "Celebrate" stamped on it. I distressed that CS to add some dimension. Last, I stamped the cake on soft suede, and colored the "frosting" with pumpkin pie. I added some liquid applique to the top of the cake, and some white ribbon. Well that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all had a fun Halloween!

Jessica

SICKNESS!!!! Mojo110 - SSS27

Hello everyone. Happy Thursday. Hard to believe Saturday is Halloween already!! Well it has been a crazy week at my house. My 4 1/2 year old has been home since Tuesday with the lovely Piggy Flu...oh sorry I guess we are supposed to call it H1N1 now...ha ha. Thankfully she hasn't had it too bad, but trying to keep her away from the other girls in NOT easy. Clorox wipes are my favorite right now. I have been wiping down everything, and I think I wash my hands about 5000 times a day. My girls did have the H1N1 vaccine, so I am convinced that is why her case is so mild. This illness thing is crazy though. Kids are missing a week of school at a time!

Well I was able to escape for sanity reasons last night to my stamp room. I have felt so trapped in the house!!!!! I wanted to try to get a couple challenges done with week. So here is 2 of them I was able to get done last night. The first one I used the Mojo Monday Sketch this week.

I just love this gingerbread set from TAC. It is called gingerbread fun. This wasn't my original plan for this. I was going to put a house on here too, but it was too big. So you will be seeing the house on another card soon...since it is all colored and stickled already. I stamped the tree and gingerbread man on white CS, and colored them using colored pencils. I added some liquid pearl to the tree as ornaments, and crystal stickles to the buttons on the man. The ribbon I found on sale at a LCS awhile back, and couldn't' resist it. The greeting is from the TAC set trendy greetings. I stamped it on white CS, and punched it out with a scalloped circle. I added some red ink to the edges to add some color to it. The background was supposed to look like a candy cane. I used my brayer and masked part of the CS and used red on the brayer for the rest. When it was done, I liked it but thought it kinda looks like a Friday's restaurant tablecloth...lol. My next card I used the Sweet Stop Sketch this week. I used this digi image from Sweet 'n Sassy that I colored a couple weeks ago. The fun part of digi images is being able to re-size and play with them. This is actually the same image, but I re-sized it and printed it smaller too. I colored both images the same, then cut them out and layered them. The smaller one I folded up the wings a little to add a 3-D effect. I just thought it looked neat. I layered it onto a peach colored CS that I ran through the cuttlebug...multipletimes...haha. I have a small embossing folder that I liked for this card, but it wouldn't cover the whole thing, so I had to keep moving it and putting it through the machine again. It turned out pretty good though. The sentiment I used in the oval is from TAC ordinary greetings set. The ribbon is also from TAC. The brown background layer is from Papertrey Ink. I added a brown flower to the corner as well.

That is all for now. I am hoping to go downstairs again tonight. I have been struggling to get downstairs though...between the sickness and I am now having neck pains again. Last year on Halloween I was in a pretty bad car accident. My girls were all in the car, but thank GOD they were fine. Me however...I saw it coming, and so therefore I tensed up and messed up my neck and back. My neck has started bothering me again recently, so it is hard to bend over my table to color and piece my cards. I have been stretching it and heating it, so hopefully that too goes away soon. It is always something!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Jessica

Belli Guest Designer CBC 77

Hello everyone. I am posting today with a special honor. I was asked to be a guest designer this week for the Creative Belli Blog! This is such an honor to me. I am so excited to be a part of this great blog this week. Be sure to stop by the blog and check out all the creations from the very talented design team.

This weeks challenge was sponsored by Sherrod Studios. Kim from Sherrod Studios provided us with these great images from the "Harvest Blessings" stamp set. The challenge from the Creative Belli Blog this week is to use raffia, or twine on your card. Don't forget the basis behind the Belli Blog is to use items you already have in your stamp room, or house. I found some raffia that I had from an old craft project I did when I was teaching Sunday School. Here is what I came up with.

Isn't the pilgrim image adorable?!!!! I colored the image with colored pencils, and added some yellow stickles to the buckles on the shoes and hat. I layered the image onto some yellow CS, to help bring out the yellow on the buckles. The patterned paper I used is some that I purchased from the Target $1 spot awhile back. I used an oval punch to punch the sentiment, and layered it onto a yellow scalloped oval. I used a light blue CS from a mono blue pack I purchased from TAC as my base. I then added some raffia along the bottom, where I normally would have used some ribbon. What a fun thing this raffia is...who knew??? I think it looks great with fall/harvest cards, and hope to use it some more...since I found a whole bunch in the basement. I love the thought of using up things I have laying around. Last I added a couple eyelets to the upper right corner.

Well, that is all I have for today. Thanks so much for stopping by, and don't forget to stop by the Creative Belli Blog, and play along this week.

Another chance to win some stuff!

Found another blog candy to share with you today. I just love blog surfing. Check this out... Chris is celebrating her birthday by giving us a chance to win some goodies. Stop by her blog HERE to enter to win. Not only does she have some prizes to give us, but take a look at the eye candy too! She has some gorgeous work.

Another Blog Candy Alert!

Hi again...wow....2 post in one day! Just wanted to let you know of another chance to win some blog candy! Chris is celebrating hits to her blog! She is giving away some great stuff. You have until 10/23 to enter, so stop over from this link HERE, and follow the steps to be in to win!

Jessica

Happy Harvest, and a Halloween Lunch Note. MOJO109

WOW...what a day. I woke up starting my day with a headache, and it just got worse from there. For the first time in a LONG time I actually took a nap today. I did the horrible mom thing, and turned on the TV for the little one (who wouldn't rest with me), and took a nap. At least it helped me feel somewhat better for the evening activities, and I still got some of the stuff on my To-do list done. Well I have a couple cards for you tonight. One is for this weeks Mojo Monday sketch, and the other is a little Halloween lunch note I "whipped up".

I made this card using the Mojo sketch for this week. Be sure to go HERE to see the sketch, and link your own card to play along this week. The pumpkin is from the TAC set Give Thanks. I just love this set, so many cute fall stamps in this set. I colored it in with watercolor crayons, and used a brown marker to trace over the vines. I layered it onto a brown CS rectangle. I used the "Happy Harvest" sentiment from the TAC Trendy Greetings set, and stamped it onto the TAC DC paper from the set Tuscany Spice. I layered that onto a scalloped circle in a light brown color. The ribbon is from the Target $1 spot. The background paper is the same TAC DC paper as the sentiment circle.

I started to make this for a challenge, but didn't think it was "spooky" enough. So I decided to make a little lunchbox note to use for one of my DDs' lunch. They LOVE getting little notes in their lunches. The little hedgehog is from the TAC set Hedgehog Halloween. The sentiment is also from that set. I colored the image with marker.

That is all for today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jessica

A little Christmas Penguin....experiment

Hi everyone. Hopefully it is Monday morning when you are first getting a chance to read this. I am doing a little experiment today. I am hoping it works...I am trying to set the post up today (Sunday), and have it post on Monday morning.

Well I made a little Christmas card today. Here it is.

I used the penguin from the TAC set Perky Penguins. I stamped him on white CS, and colored in his beak and feet orange. I colored the tree an pine green color and added some green distressed stickles to it. I stamped the image again onto some PP also from TAC DSC set Winterberry. I used that to paper piece the hat and scarf onto him. I added some white liquid applique to the ball and brim of the hat as well. I ink distressed the edges (I have been doing that a lot lately...I guess I like the look of it right now...ha ha.). The sentiment is from the TAC set I Trendy Greetings...which is a great set. It has sooooo many different greetings in it, and many different fonts. I used a piece of the same paper collection I used for the scarf and hat for the background. I layered everything together, and added a little bow and brad in the bottom corner. Here is a close-up of the "fluffy" scarf and hat.Well that is it for now. I am hoping to be back this week with some more things to look at. Thanks for stopping by!

Jessica