A Tearful Inspiration.....

This is a card I created for the Inspiration challenge on SCS! This was the site:

Rooms by Zoya B

I chose the Wizard of Oz room and the colors in Ariel's room! They are just so beautiful!!

While I was perusing the gallery, a really special memory came to mind...

Here it is:

My husband and I have lived in several different states! It was fun to move around, but we didn't have a home. We had an apartment and then we lived with a couple different relatives at times. At one point, My husband, Layla (my daughter) and I moved into my mother's house in NY. Layla was about two yrs old and had NEVER slept in a crib! She had always slept in a play-pen. Well, when we moved in with my mother, she had asked us if it was OK if she bought a COMPLETE BEDROOM for Layla. (The tears are streaming down my face now as I am typing this... kind of odd because I am NOT a crier!)
Anyways.....

We couldn't believe it! She took my husband and I to show us a set she was eyeing for a while and my husband and I LOVED it! She purchased the most GORGEOUS bedding, wallpaper trim, paint and anything else we needed! It was such a BEAUTIFUL gift! When my husband and I finished putting the room together and making it look PERFECT! I remember my mother, my husband and I walking with Layla into her new fully furnished room! She finally had her OWN bed! Yup! She went from a playpen to a toddler bed! Her eyes LIT up when she walked in! She was SOOO happy and so were we! Our little girl finally had a FURNISHED room!

So, I guess, I've been thinking a lot about my mom!

Here's the card I created with the inspiration!

Hope you like my card!

Here is how I made the upper part of this card.

First I grabbed my "GO TO," cardstock... VERY VANILLA! :) I used SU!'s new set Baby Blossoms. First I stamped the blossoms in Versamark then Pink Pirouette (for the larger part of the flower) and then stamped the smaller part of the flower in Versamark then Blushing Bride. I did the same with the leaves using Versamark and Certainly Celery. I then poured the clear embossing powder and heated my stamped images.

I then took a sponge and used Baja Breeze to sponge very carefully around each flower. The I roughed up the edges! I do this BEFORE running it through the Lattice embossing folder, that way when I rough up the edges, the paper won't tear! After I was done roughing up the edges and ran it though using the embossing folder, I paper pierced and did some faux stitching with my gel pen! :) When I was finished with the upper piece I set it to the side.

 I then stamped a couple of the baby blossoms, cut them out and then used the Bird Punch for my leaves. I used another punch for my sentiment... added some PEARLS, (of course) and my sentiment was complete! I chose one new dp from SU! for the bottom of my card... After I adhered my top and bottom layer, I added my bow, then layered it on top of some PEAR PIZZAZZ cardstock and... my card was complete!!

What do you think?

Bye for now...

~jenna

A Rainbow, and Something Warm and Fuzzy .....

Hi all!

It' been a while! My husband is out of town for a few weeks. He is taking some classes to gain some certifications for his line of work. He is a Union worker and the more certifications you have, the more likely you will be chosen for a job! He will come home on the weekends. Thank goodness for that! The girls and I miss him a lot during the week! Because he's not home, and there has been some "Odd" behavior on and around our block, I decided I would stay with my husband’s Grandmother! I am having a really great time staying here! My girls LOVE having this time with their Great Grandma!! They are getting A LOT of attention from her! We have been stamping a lot together, however I haven't had much time to do the challenges! i have missed them! However, Grandma and I have made quite a few cards this past week! We've had MANY late nights! Finally, on Thrusday, I checked the challenge and i just COULDN'T stay away! I created a card in my head the minute I read the challenge and just HAD to create it!

Here is one card I made based on a SCS challenge! Our challenge was to use more than 3 colors from the rainbow (or something like that).

This was a very easy and QUICK card! I LOVE these butterflies from SU! They are kinda my "Got To!" They just add that little touch that a card needs sometimes! I really enjoyed making this card. Like I've said before, I am not big into BRIGHT colors and I think they came together perfectly here! What do you think?

                                                                     My Quilt Card: 
                            I wanted to explain a bit (If you'd like to skip the story see card below).

I made the quilt card below for a SCS challenge, too! The challenge was “Warm and Fuzzy!” We were to choose a WARM color and add some "Fuzz." So, I thought, "What could be warmer than a Warm, fuzzy quilt?!" The warm color I chose was Baja Breeze (I painted my living room a "Baja Breeze" color, I love it so much!), and for the "Fuzz," I roughed up the edges on each of the layers!  Just like a REAL quilt! :)

If you are wondering how long this quilt took to make, you will be surprised to know... really no time at all! Let me explain:

Two years ago, my mother had planned a vacation for the whole family out on Cape Cod/Martha's Vineyard! It was INCREDIBLE!! Every house is just gorgeous there and the air is so crisp! We had such an amazing time! (So much so, that she rented a home again last year for all of us!! SO AWESOME!!)

There was a moment right before we were leaving Cape Cod in the house she had rented, where my mom and my two girls were sitting on the couch and I grabbed my camera and, "SNAP!"

 Isn't this such a beautiful picture of a Grandmother and her two granddaughters!?! :) Love this photo! Well... moving on to my card... After I came home and saw this photo I realized I needed to something really special with it and give it to my mother. I started thinking... "Mom LOVES quilts... what if I take a peak at some of her quilting books, find a pattern, and use that to make my paper quilt?" So, it was about 11pm when I started researching the quilt books. When I saw this pattern, I KNEW it was THE one! I just started going at it. Punching squares like crazy! I used baja breeze dp from SU!'s 2009 catalog. I also added some Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, and Night of Navy. When I finished my paper quilt i was SOO pleased! I wasn't, however, please with the hour! It was 3AM!! Eventually, I got some sleep and started to look for embellies to add into the shadow box... I put a lighthouse and some seashells. Needless to say, she loved it! (Right mom?) It sits on her bureau in her bedroom! It really was so much fun to make and GIVE to her! :)
This morning, when i read Lydia's "Free For All- Warm and Fuzzy," I couldn't stop thinking about the quilt I left (not so willingly behind) on my bed! It hit me that I could duplicate that quilt I made with some NEW SU! dp, and use it for the challenge!! And that is exactly what I did!!
                                                    And here is my paper quilted card:

I used my most FAVORITE embossing folder to give it some texture, added a bow... OF COURSE, a new Rosette from SU!, some PEARLS (Of course, AGAIN), A stick pin, a sentiment and there you have it!! My card was COMPLETE!! :)

The photo's below are for you, Mom!! The girls were playing "Dress Up," and I snapped some photos!! Aren't they just SOO cute?!?

not sure why the text I wrote on Layla's card isn't appearing but this photo is of my Little Layla Paige!! She LOVES playing dress up!

This is my little Brooklyn Sophia playing dress up with her sister! When she sees the dress up chest being taken out, she IMMEDIATELY starts undressing! She LOVES picking out and putting on her little outfit!

Well, that's it for now! I really hope you enjoyed my story, my cards and my photos of my little munchkins! For all of you getting hit with snow... stay warm! Till next time....

~jenna

Owl Love you!

Well, it's a "SNOW DAY," here in OH! It started off with a Two Hour Delay and then, they cancelled school! It's 5 degrees here! But, I'm nice and cozy inside! :)

I took a little break yesterday! NOT from stamping... just from my computer! Yesterday, after putting Layla (our oldest) on the bus, I spent the morning with my youngest daughter, Brooklyn! We colored, listened to music, had a snack, played peek-a-boo, and watched Sesame Street! Soo fun! When Layla got home from school, we had lunch and then put Brooklyn down for a nap! Layla and I had, "Mommy and Me time." Since Layla was the only child for about 4 years! The transition was a little difficult at first, but i promised her, "Mommy and Me time." What is, "Mommy and Me time?" Layla gets to choose what she wants to do with me! Whether it's baking, doing a puzzle, playing games, watching a movie (which she HARDLY chooses), or my favorite, crafting!! Yesterday, she chose crafting! She chose the stamp set, the colors and the technique! We had so much fun! She chose water coloring with pencils! I guess after seeing my card on Wednesday, she wanted to give it a try! She created a beautiful card!

Today, I decided to check out the challenge on SCS! It was to repeatedly stamp words/phrase to create a background for your image! I had purchased this stamp for my daughter last summer! I LOVE it!! That little owl is just SOO cute, right?!? I'm not a big V-day fan, but I thought I should try to make a card! So, here it is! I hope you like my card! Oh... and that bow? SUPER easy! If you'd like to know how, message me! I'll give you the deets!!

Have a great day!!

~jenna

It's raining, It's Pouring....

It's quite wet out here in, OH! No sun shining today! Isn't it nice when the weather helps your creative juices?? Late last night, I checked the challenge on Splitcoast, and ran up to my craft room to play! I have been wanted to paint lately! It's been years since I've painted! I am a HORRIBLE painter! Seriously, I've even been told that! Anyway, I thought, I love holding a paintbrush, so how about incorporating some "painting" onto my card? Just to see if I could do it! I took out my watercolor pencils and an image I had stamped onto watercolor paper from SU!'s set called, "Fast & Fabulous." Put some water in a cup and started painting! I LOVED it!! And I feel like now I have had more experience with blender pens and coloring, now was the perfect time to try this! Here's the card I created!



After I finished painting the image, i set it to the side and went to BED!! At that point is was 1a.m!! EEEK! Anyway, my husband and I woke up a bit late, was able to get our daughter fed and ready for school on time!! :) After she left, I ran up to try to get my card finished as fast as possible! THAT was a task! I hadn't thought of a color combo for what I had watercolored! Oh, my!! After cutting MANY pieces of cardstock and not finding ANY combo I liked, I started to look outside. All I saw was fog, rain and GREY!! And then, all of a sudden it hit me! GREY!! :) So, I grabbed some grey cardstock, started cutting, running things through my Big Kick, grabbed my pearls, found some ribbon and.... VOILA!! After it was all put together, I thought those flowers needed a little something. So I grabbed some glue and put some dazzling diamonds in the center of each flower. Here's the picture where you can SEE them!:  

I really loved  this sketch when I was through with my card!! I'd love to hear what you think of my card!! Thanks for taking a peak! 

                                                                          ~jenna  

Growing pains....

So, my daughter Layla woke up last night in excruciating pain!! My husband and I haven't seen her cry like that in a long, long time! She told us her arm was in a lot of pain! We felt so bad for her! We rubbed her arm and gave her some Tylenol and thankfully, she went back to sleep! We are pretty sure it was GROWING PAINS!! EEEK!

Layla woke up this morning perfectly happy! We got her all ready for school and after she left, I went on Splitcoaststampers.com to check out the Color Challenge! I am so thankful for Splitcoast because I believe it has helped me to become a better stamper! I learn new techniques and I am inspired every second I am on that site! :)

I decided I am going to upload some of the cards I have made in the past few days!

There are quite a few, but I would love to hear what you think of them! Also, I will upload cards i have NOT posted on SCS!! And if there are any cards I post that you would like to have more info about, like how to make it or what I used... don't hesitate to ask! :)

The card you see below is a card I made recently with a new SU! set called Easter Blossoms. I LOVE this set! I also used some SU! designer paper and added some black bling on each corner! I was so pleased when I finished this card! It kinda has a vintage feel (which is what I LOVE) but there is still something modern about it! Maybe it's the houndstooth designer paper?
This card is part of a "Vintage Set" I made! I was inspired by an artist I found on Splitcoaststampers! Her name is, Holly aka Toy! She created a FABULOUS gift set and I was so inspired! I plan on adding to this set. Maybe a faux purse? We'll see!

This is part of the "Vintage gift set" as well! I absolutely love Very Vanilla cardstock! I'd have to say, my two favorite colors from SU! are Very Vanilla and Saraha Sand! For this card, I used Very Vanilla, and Pink Pirouette cardstock. I added some lace, and some fabric and then used some seam binding ribbon to make a bow! I absolutely love how simple this card is!       

 This little box was made from SU! Milk carton die! I cut the top of it off to have an open box and used Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, and Pink Pirhouette. Again I used seam binding ribbon! And added some pearls... OF COURSE!

 Stampin Up! has come out with some amazingly beautiful fabric! I LOVE it!! I didn't think I would use it on cards, but I couldn't help myself!! I used SU! butterfly die and cut out this big butterlfy and then used SU! die called Blossom Party for the center of the butterfly! I added some pearls, stuck a stick pin with some lace and... done! I placed a piece of texturized Pink Pirhouette cardstock and used Very Vanilla as my base!

 This is a card I made for my niece, Gianna Lynn! She is such a cutie! We were talking on the phone one night and she asked me if I could send her some stamps!! HOW COULD I RESIST!! So, I thought I'd make her a little card to go into her box of goodies! I used SU! scallop circle punch for the bottom of the dress! Then I drew the top of the dress on some grid paper, ran both pieces through embossing folders, added some pearls and butterfly and... Voila! My little dress was complete! I made a double bow and added two strips of cardstock and then punched a border... and of course added some more PEARLS!!! 
 This was an EXTREMELY simple card! I absolutely LOVE how this one turned out!! I used Very Vanilla cardstock, some designer paper from SU! Punched out a black circle scallop and then stamped my image and punched it out with a circle punch! Super easy card!

 I made this card in about 8 minutes thanks to an inspiration challenge on SCS!! :) I used some designer paper (which is the polka dotted paper), then I cut a piece of black cardstock, adhered it to some VV (very vanilla) cardstock added a bow and... done! SUPER easy! I happened to have two pieces of the dp (designer paper) and black paper that fit PERFECTLY inside my card!

 This was a pretty easy card, too! I pretty much created this card in my head and then put it on paper! My mother in law, Karen Barber, taught me this technique. It's called "Black Magic" or "Chalkboard!" It is super easy and quite fun! After I figured out my layout, it was all pretty easy from there! I added pearls and a bow and again... I was finished!! LOVE the way it turned out!

So, now you have seen some more of my work! Again, I love to hear what you think! Stop by anytime!! If you have a blog, send me a link! I'd love to see your work, too!

Bye for now!

~jenna

And so it begins...

My first blog...

When I heard about blogging, which was years ago, I thought , "That will NEVER be me. A blog? Who cares what I think?" But now... years later... after visiting SEVERAL blogs and thoroughly enjoying them, I have decided to change my opinion about blogs and decided to start one!

 I realize that it will take time for people to notice my little blog, but I feel this will be a GREAT way for people to get to know a little more about me and things I love about life!

 What you will read about on my blog:

My blog will have a lot about my family, friends, hobbies, and my every day joys and struggles. Here are few things you might like to know about me:

I have been married to my awesome husband for over 6 years! We have two very beautiful little girls. Our oldest, Layla Paige, who is five years old, is in kindergarten and absolutely LOVES school! She is also one of the best big sisters ever! And I'm not just saying that. She really an incredibly loving, generous, and forgiving sister! She impresses and amazes my husband and I everyday. Our youngest daughter, Brooklyn Sophia, who will be two in March, is an absolute riot! She is always making us laugh! She definitely knows how to get attention! We so enjoy watching her grow into her own.

I am lucky enough to be able to stay at home with my two girls! Being a stay at home mom gives me the chance do three things I love most in this world! Be a wife, a mother and an artist! Which brings me to why I am really starting this blog! I'd like to share with you some of my work! I love paper crafting! Whether it's creating scrapbook pages, cards and anything else I think of!

So, I'll leave you with some photos of some of my recent work! If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them! I will take positive and negative feedback! Thank you for taking a peak at my blog!

~jenna

These cards were made with all supplies made by Stampin' Up!