Umbrella Thanks

I'm sorry I haven't used this set more often - I really like the images - this umbrella and the corset.

Today's creation is a blend of Stampin' Royalty for the sketch, Handstamped Sentiments asks for watercolour this week  and Color Throwdown for the colours - Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, and I used Baha Breeze instead of Brocade Blue.

I used ink and aqua painter for the umbrella and for the faces of each of the watches I added a bit of Crystal Effects.  I absolutely love this pleated ribbon; it's so easy to work with.

We've only got one more day of school before spring break.  Wooo Hooo!  

I haven't shared a picture of Elliot since he was born - he's such a precious calm baby! 

Have an enjoyable day!

Thanks for visiting! 

Joan

A New Chapter -

I've missed an entire week of completing and posting challenges - but that's because I became a Grandma on January 8 for the first time - so things have been pretty exciting around here!  

The challenge I completed tonight uses the colours from Create with Connie and Mary and the sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches.  The colours are Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade - I've used a piece of the upcoming Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment DSP, and the Fresh Vintage stamp set.  I took one of the stamps and  stamped onto a piece of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon with the Calypso Coral ink.

Here is a picture of me with Elliot Alan James Jeffery - such a sweet bundle of joy, producing emotions in me I never thought could be so strong.

Hope you are having a wonderful week - thanks for stopping by - Joan

Sailing out of Summer

 Well, it really sucks that the last two days of summer were spent nursing a migraine! What a complete waste of time.  I woke up today relieved of the headache before heading to school for meetings.  After school I made sure I got some stamping done!  I decided that for this week's Paper Players sketch challenge  I would use one of the Summer Mini sets (The Open Sea) which will be gone soon.

I brayered some Early Espresson onto the embossing folder to add that bit of depth before embossing.  What a wonderful sketch this is - one to keep in mind for workshops!


I had an Open House this past weekend, and re-did my Door Prize box with some of the new Mocha Morning Specialty paper.  To be honest, I may never redo this box - I love it!  I used the Lace Ribbon Border, put it through the crimper which made it bend around the edge of the lid easily.

It won't take long before the school routine gets set in, but I'm happy I'll still have time for stamping and sharing classes with my peeps!

Hope the summer is winding up well for you also - thanks for stopping by for a visit!  Joan

Mojo Die Cuts

Happy Monday!  Truly my last week of summer for 2011 - gotta make it good!

I think I may be getting a wee bit of a handle on this "watercolour" technique - I used the glimmer paper for this flower, embossed the image on, used my aquapainter to "paint" water on the paper instead of misting it, and then dropped the re-inker on with the aquapainter....and let it go where it wanted.  I'll have to try it with one of the "Fifth Avenue" flowers to see if I've finally got the knack.  I have stacked three of these flowers on top of one another - can't really see that in the photo.

I used pieces from the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' Kit  to complete this sketch from Mojo Monday - different borders was the highlight of the day - so I used the ones from the kit as well as the scalloped circle and leaves.

Today I'm spending little snippets of time sorting my husband's music from his Men's Chorus - I gathered 3 bags and one box of music - Sheesh!  He hates organizing and I love sorting - so it all works out.  We're going to a music reading tonight with a couple of other choir members to see what's new.  Just one more thing that gets started up again in the fall.

Hope you're having a wonderful day.  Thanks for dropping by.  Joan

Butterfly Gratitude

I'm back from the mountains and raring to get into gear......I had planned on doing some planning while in the mountains, but that didn't work out -  which I guess is good in the long run.  The weather was pretty good - but it sure is warm back at home.  Perfect for spending a wee bit of time in the basement stamping.

I created this butterfly card for the Friday Mash Up! this week and I used the sketch from Stamping 411.

The Mash Up! was:

• Create a card with butterflies and bling  OR
• Create a card using Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, one other colour and a neutral  OR
• Create a card with butterflies, bling and the Color Combo.

I chose Wisteria Wonder as my extra colour and Very Vanilla as the neutral.  I actually like these colours together - I'll have to keep them in mind for the future.

I'm going to have to make sure that I get some school planning in during the next while - in addition to workshop planning....not much time left - but I'm NOT counting yet!

Hope you have some events to look forward to - and thanks for taking time to stop by to visit.
Joan

Sunflower Smile

Today's card is for the The Paper Players sketch this week which is designed by Nance.

I really really love this new sunflower stamp - I just think that I really really need to figure out how to use it.  I'll be scoping out some galleries for this!!!  I tried stamping the image on watercolour paper but the detailed lines didn't show up.  I tried quite a variety of different things before deciding to use one colour and not colour anything in.  However, I liked how the petals turned out when I did added ink with the aqua-painter (I just totally botched the inside of the flower) - so I cut out the petals to raise up above the stamped image.

Hope there are loads of things for you to smile about in your life today!  Thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit.
Joan

Get Well Flourishes

Thought I'd try clean and simple today.  This week's challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments is to use flourishes.  I've been wanting to use this stamp set for a while now - and when I looked at it I saw more than florishes - I saw flowers...sort of.  The get well wishes come from the SUO Challenges this week and the colours are today's Color Challenge over at SCS - Island Indigo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and a neutral.

I could give this to my daughter today - she's suffering from a summer cold - she's a bit annoyed because she wasn't sick all winter.  Oh well - it's a drizzly day today, so perfect for hunkering down in the covers.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have a wonderful day!
Joan

Full of Mojo B's

Today's Mojo Monday Sketch works perfectly with this week's Our Creative Corner challenge of "All the B's".....use Black, Bling, Buttons and Bow - I guess I've also included Brads (even though it includes the bling) and blossoms.

WICKED was FANTASTIC last night.  I woke up with some of the songs still swimming around in my head - that's not unusual though.  Today - I've already crossed two things off my To-Do list and will work on a few more as I continue to work on crafting stuff.  I'm trying to get ready for a SU garage sale and keep getting side tracked. (That's not unusual either!)

I hope you have a day full of achievements and not too many detours!
Thanks for stopping by for a visit!
Joan

Newprint Amour

Extra, Extra - Having fun in the craft room!!!!

I am wishing I was back in Paris though!  Oh well - some other summer!  It's fun looking through this DSP to see the different ads.

This sketch is from this week's Just Add Ink.  Fairly simple sketch - but the different ways that people interpret the sketch makes each one unique.  That's the thing I love about sketch challenges!!!

Have a fantastic day!  Thanks for stopping by - Joan