Stampin' Up! Fun & A Surprise!

Happy Fall, Cricuteers!

The signs of Fall are all around... the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees, the temperatures are cooling off (49 degrees this morning!), I can hear the sounds of the local high school football games out my window, Hot Apple Cider K-cups are back in stores, and my Stampers 10 Club has begun again!

I hosted a SU! Workshop last weekend and ordered my new 2011-2013 In-Colors.  I'm super excited to get them along with the two exclusive hostess sets I ordered.  Deb, my SU! demonstrator, got a "workshop-in-a-bag" kit at SU! convention this year, and because I was her first post-convention hostess, she used it at my workshop.  It featured fun projects made with the new in-colors, the new Easy Events stamp set that I cannot wait to get my hands on, and some fabulous new ribbon!  All the projects in the kit were so cool that I just had to share them with you.  Let me know what you think!

Here's the first card... I love the ribbon and baker's twine!

This cute tag set was made using all of the new in-colors!

This was our fun make-and-take.  The pocket envelope was made by first sealing a traditional envelope and then cutting an inch off one of the sides before using a large circle punch to punch a semi-circle out of the same side.  



Hope you all have a fantastic first weekend of Fall!  Be sure to stop back on Sunday for my belated blog-iversary celebration.  I will have a fun giveaway for one lucky Cricuteer AND a coupon code for all!!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Fall Birthday Fun

Lately, I've really gotten into using punches for adding sentiments to my cards.  So easy!  Just punch, stamp, and go!  I still love my Cricut, but I am having fun with punches.  I even re-joined the Stampers 10 club I was part of last year and used to build my Stampin' Up! ink pad collection, and I plan to use this year's club to expand my punch collection.

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black cardstock (base) ~ Recollections

♥ Patterned and coordinating cardstock ~ DCWV The Mango Frost Matstack and Cardstock Matstack

♥ 1/4" black satin ribbon ~ Offray

♥ Deco Scallop edge punch ~ ek Success

♥ Journal Plate & Bracket punch ~ ek Success (my new favorite!!!)

♥ "Happy Birthday" stamp ~ Pink by Design Scripted Year

CHALLENGES:

♥ Fall-colored Birthday / Anniversary project ~ Lady Luv Bug

♥ Fall theme ~ Scrapalicious USA

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

"Monster"-rific Birthday Card

I just love this fun kid's birthday card I made this weekend for a friend's son's 7th birthday.  I get so excited when cards turn out better than I originally envision them.  Do any of you ever feel this way?

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Orange, yellow, green, purple, and black cardstock ~ Recollections Halloween 2010 pack

♥  (cut at 6") ~ Sweet Treats cartridge

♥ monster cut at 2.5" ~ Mini Monsters cartridge

♥ Drippy Goo punch ~ Martha Stewart Crafts

♥ Googly eyes (two different sizes)

Note: I cut the cake card using the Cards feature, but instead of cutting the Layers, I used the solid , cut the cake tiers apart, and punched with Drippy Goo to make the pretty Cake2 more "monster"-rific.

CHALLENGES:

♥ "Get in Shape" ~ Crafty Sprouts
♥ "Card Crazy"~ Cricut Cardz Challenge
♥ Peachy Keen Faces / Favorite Card ~ Pause Dream Enjoy

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I've been dying to share this project, but had to wait in case my mom visited my blog before we celebrated her birthday.  I've been wanting to make her a box of cards for a while now.  She loves black and white so I challenged myself to make each card using only black, white, and only one color accent.  This was surprisingly difficult.  I kept finding all sorts of multi-colored or coordinating papers, ribbons, etc., that I wanted to use, but I stuck to my original design plan and LOVE how these cards turned out.

The Entire Collection

The Box

The Cards

I also made a fun 3x3 card to use as her actual birthday card.  I've been told these cards were one of the new "trendy" things at this summer's Stampin' Up! convention.  They are super simple to make and a great way to get in a little grown-up coloring time with your watercolor pencils, aqua painters, or markers.  And yes - there are envelopes available for these little cards.  I got mine from Hobby Lobby - just $4.99 for 25 (and of course, I used a 40% off coupon!).  Oh... and one quick design note - for the side trim, I used a scrap of the black and white striped paper from the elephant thank-you card above and colored it in the same colors as I colored the image.

As for my Scrap-ipes for all these designs, I used black cardstock for the card bases and various papers, colors, ribbons, accents, and tools from my collection.  Way too much scrappin' goodness to list in one post!  But if you see something you just have to know what it is, where I got it, or how I did it, let me know.  I'd be more than happy to share!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Simple, Yet Elegant Sympathy Card

Ask any scrapper what she/he considers the hardest card to create, and I bet many of them would tell you a sympathy card.  Birthdays, thank-you's, holidays... Those are all fun cards to design.  No one ever wants to have a reason to work on a sympathy card... me included.  They are almost always last-minute cards and usually take some time to create because you want to get them "just right".

The following design was no different.  I needed four cards for my cousins who lost their mother after a long road of illness.  While I was not happy with the occasion behind creating these cards, I am pleased with how pretty they turned out and plan to make a batch of similar cards for future use.

Front

Inside

JD'S SCRAP-IPE:

♥ Black and white solid cardstock

♥ Cream shimmer cardstock ~ Recollections Gemstones pack

♥ Printed scrapbook paper ~ Recollections *NEW* 24 sheet packs

♥ 1/4" white satin ribbon ~ Offray

♥ Accnt48 regular and shadow cut at 3 3/4" ~ Cricut Accent Essentials

♥ Photo labels punch ~ ek Success

♥ "With Sympathy" stamp ~ Pink By Design Scripted Year

♥ Flower stamp ~ Stampin' Up! Silhouette Sentiments

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Summer "Catch"-up

Just wanted to share a couple projects I made over the summer.

The first is a quick thank you card I made for a friend's son's t-ball team to give their coach.  I used George & Basic Shapes for the "thanks" and Everyday Paper Dolls for the glove and bat along with the Tiny Mosiac Cuttlebug folder and some fun American Crafts ribbon.

The second project is a cute gift tag I made for the same friend's daughter's birthday.  I cut the crown and its shadow from Gypsy Wanderings after using my Gypsy to remove the numerous decorative elements.  I added my favorite white gel-pen stitching, some purple gems from Recollections, and a "birthday wishes" stamp from Stampin' Up!.  Then I punched a small hole in the top and threaded the tag through some basic white curling ribbon.

I haven't done much crafting this summer.  Just quick cards and tags when I needed them.  I tried to pull from my reserves as much as possible.  I'm looking forward to the return of my scrappin' mojo so I can put all these fun supplies I have to good use!

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Hello World!

Hello Cricuteers!

I am so proud to finally be able to introduce you to my son... Emerson John.

He was born on July 5th - 5 1/2 weeks before my due date and 2 1/2 weeks before the doctors were planning to induce labor.  He only weighed 4 lbs, 14 oz. and spent 11 days in the NICU due to his early arrival, but was perfectly healthy at birth.  He just needed a little extra time to coordinate his eating and breathing.  He is now 7 weeks old, weighs just over 8 lbs, and is doing wonderfully.  He has also grown almost 3 inches in length.  We are so proud of him!

Mom and Dad are doing great, too.  A little tired... but that's one of the many joys of parenting!  I am slowly finding time to return to my scrap room in between feeding, changing diapers, and napping.  I didn't do much scrapping over the summer as I somehow lost my creative mojo during my pregnancy.  I created a few projects here and there when I had a need for them, but I am more than ready to make up for the lack of creative energy now.  My scrap mojo is back!

Hope you are all enjoying the final days of summer.  I can't believe it's almost over already!  I look forward to catching up with you soon.

Until next time, Cricuteers!

~ JD ~

Quick Update!

Good morning, Cricuteers!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I've last said hello.  I promised myself I was going to do better than that, but my pregnancy has been filled with many doctors' appointments (3 per week now!) and lots of other crazy baby-related fun.  The good news is our sweet little boy is growing big and strong and will be here in just 4 weeks!  We (and by we, I mainly mean my husband) are working hard to check of the final things from our before-baby to do list.  AND I'm finally getting my scrappin' mojo back!  In the past two weeks, I've made a card and a gift tag, begun mass-production on 60 baby thank-you cards, and started dreaming / planning Junior's first scrapbook.  I even managed to snag 5(!) new Cricut cartridges from the big $14.95 / $19.95 cricutmachine.com sale!!  I'm so excited to start scrapping with them!  I got Boys Will Be Boys, Car Decals, Country Life, Mini Monsters, and Life's a Party.  Too fun!


Hope you are all enjoying your summer and staying safe in this crazy weather we've been having throughout the country.  I miss you all and try to check in on your blogs as often as I can.  I plan to be back scrapping and blogging once Junior arrives and we fall into a happy baby routine.  :-)


Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~


P.S. I recently found a fun new blog to follow.  I strongly recommend you head on over to Raina's Favorite Crafty Things and check out her fabulous work.  She's even got some great blog candy going on right now!

Happy Spring!

Good morning and Happy Spring, Cricuteers!

All the snow has finally melted from our yard, and I officially have Spring Fever!  The Spring to-do list is ever growing.  I am so ready to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.  We've had several really nice days lately... one that even allowed me to open all the windows / doors and air out my house.  Ahh... the simple joys in life!

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, my husband and I are expecting a new addition to our family.  We had our fourth ultrasound on Friday, and everything looked wonderful.  Baby Boy is growing big and strong.  11 oz. so far!  Average weight for 19 weeks is only 8.5 ounces.  Our little one is still about a week ahead in size.  My husband's convinced we are growing a linebacker.  (Easy for him to say when he's not the one who has to birth this child.  LoL.)

I know I've been extremely absent these days.  I'm still very tired and experiencing a major scrappin' block.  But I'm looking forward to finding my creative mojo again.  I've acquired some fun new Stampin' Up goodies over the winter that I just can't wait to play with... lots of new ink, markers, stamps, watercolor pencils, and other fun goodies.  My crafting budget is way down as we prepare for baby... I have only bought 2 Cricut cartridges so far in 2011!  *GASP*  But I have enough supplies on hand to last me until 2012... so I'm not worried.  :-)

Hope all is well with you these days!  Enjoy your Sunday!

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~

God is good

Hello Cricuteers!

I bet you thought I forgot about you and this wonderful world of scrapping blogs. Not at all!  However, I have entered the exciting, yet exhausting world of pregnancy.  The past three months have been a crazy whirlwind of doctors' visits, tests, and couch rest.  Our doctors are being overly cautious as my first pregnancy ended in the stillbirth of my beautiful daughter, Faith Rose.  So instead of spending my post-work hours in the scrap room, I've been napping or laying on the couch reading / watching tv.  {Thank goodness for DVR!}  I will happily give up scrapping time for the adorable bundle of joy growing inside me.  There will be plenty of time for scrapping (and plenty of moments to scrap!) after the baby is born.

So if I'm a little absent over the next few months, I hope you will understand.  I'll keep in touch as my energy level allows.

Until next time, Cricuteers!
~ JD ~

P.S.  It's a BOY!!  :-)