Monday, April 27, 2009

FEATURED STAMPER: JERRI KAY JIMENEZ

I have a beautiful card to share with you today - but it is NOT one of my own. It is this GORGEOUS card created by Jerri Jimenez. Jerri has her own VERY unique style and consistently produces the loveliest cards and gift items I've seen anywhere. The detail and embellishments are always amazing and her coloring skills are to be envied!!!! Have you ever seen bows tied so perfectly? I WANT LESSONS!!!!!!
I've mentioned Jerri's work before in another post and hope you visited her blog then - but if not, you really should visit to see all her work. Here's the link: A TOUCH OF GRACE by Jerri Kay Jimenez.
That's it for me today. Until tomorrow -
Happy Stamping!
Jill

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

CAMEO APPEARANCES II

This is another card that I made on Saturday. It is actually the first one I made and took the longest because I couldn't seem to get in the groove at first.


The cameo is a button from Hobby Lobby. I cut the loop off the back with my craft scissors and glued it into place with Crystal Effects.


Recipe:
All Year Cheer Sentiment
Basic Black Cardstock
Going Gray Cardstock
Whisper White Cardstock
Cuttlebug Vintage Corners Dies
Nestabilities Circles
White Lace


I like the overall look - but think if I made it again I would Cuttlebug the gray background. It looks a little 'dull".


I know the post is late today - I've been dealing with a migraine and car repairs all day - and finally had a minute to do something fun.


Thanks for visiting and until next time -
Happy Stamping!
Jill

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Keeping to my blue & white theme from yesterday this is another card I made on Saturday.

Again I used the Martha Stewart Border Punch, a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and a sentiment from one of the Stampin'Up! All Year Cheer sets. The cardbase is Brocade Blue.

The butterfly was stamped in Night of Navy on Whisper White cardstock, cut out and then popped up with dimensionals. The shiny little gemstone at the head of the butterfly was placed to catch the eye of the viewer and pull it back into the sentiment.

TIP: When placing accents & embellishments position them so that lines in the image point toward the focal point of the card or photo on a scrapbook page (e.g. the antennae on the butterfly).

Thanks for visiting today.

Happy Stamping! Jill

Monday, April 20, 2009

CAMEO APPEARANCES

Before I get into the info for today's post, I need to respond to a question I received re: yesterday's post. OMS is an acronym for Odorless Mineral Spirits which is used as a blending medium for wax based colored pencils to soften and blend pencil lines. I'm sorry for the confusion and in future I will be sure to write-out the meaning of any acronym I use. Also, when you leave a question for me to answer please do not sign in as anonymous. When using the anonymous option to sign in you are truly, completely anonymous and I have no means of contacting you directly.

Okay - now for today's card. My DH (dear husband or darling husband) loves to attend auctions and he NEVER comes back emptyhanded. At one of the recent auctions there was one item he needed but to get it he had to buy a box full of junk - rusty nails, papers, etc. Normally he would remove the item he wants and then just leave the box behind for them to re-sale at the next auction - but this time he brought the box home with him. Buried beneath all the junk was this piece of costume jewelry hanging from an old, discolored clasp. Definitely NOT something I would ever wear - but isn't it beautiful as an embellishment for this card?

Recipe:
Whisper White Cardstock
Night of Navy Cardstock
Paisley Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
Martha Stewart Border Punch
SU! All Year Cheer Stamp
Night of Navy Ink
5/8" White Organdy Ribbon

That's it for today. Thanks for visiting and until tomorrow -

Happy Stamping!
Jill


Sunday, April 19, 2009

EMBOSSED ROSES

I had a wonderful day yesterday - spent the entire afternoon and evening with my wonderful friend, Cindy - talking, stamping and laughing! Absolutely wonderful!

We got off to a slow start with the stamping - I think each of us spent an about 2 hours finishing our first card - but after we got started we were on a roll. We both completed 4 cards - and I was actually pleased with the results.

My card was inspired by this wonderful card by Joanne Travis. Do you see the resemblance? No? Well let me explain the inspiration. My plan was to completely recreate her card so I started out by stamping the leaves in Always Artichoke across the bottom of the card. Then I colored the Clematis. Once I began placing the flowers I realized I HATED HOW IT WAS LOOKING!!! I don't know how Joanne made her card appear so clean and vibrant. After I spent about 15 minutes trying to make it look good I decided the best way to do that was to cut off the bottom of the card to remove the most of the leaves. Then I stamped more around the other three sides to create a frame. The plan at THAT point was to center the Clematis blooms in the frame and pop them up on dimensionals. STILL HATED IT!!!

I don't know why I decided to use my new Manhattan Roses embossing folder over the mess I had made - I was going to throw it away and start over - but the folder is new and I wanted to try some different effects - so I threw the card in the embossing folder and away I went.
I colored the image using Koh-I-Noor woodless pencils and OMS inside the embossed lines of the rose - then added sky in and around the leaves. A little lace embellishment and a small sentiment and it's finished. FINALLY - and the really great part? I LIKE IT!

Thanks for visiting - and until tomorrow

Happy Stamping!
Jill

Sunday, April 12, 2009

EASTER BLESSINGS

Wishing you all a happy Easter filled with love and sweet things.

Remember the sweetest thing of all at Easter is the knowledge that

Jesus Lives and because of that - we too can have eternal life in Him.

Wonderful News!!!!


Happy Easter!
Jill

Saturday, April 11, 2009

HAS THE MOJO RETURNED???

Perhaps - at least in a lesser amount than usual - my mojo has begun to creep back. I had the entire day yesterday to play and managed to create 2 cards then gave it up to have an all day online marathon of NCIS. I just recently began wathcing the show as re-runs on USA and thought I'd like to catch up on the plot lines.

Both cards are actually trial runs for my techniques class and I was pleased with the result. I like to add just a little elemental touch but at the same time keep it simple so that we can complete the three cards in the 2 hour class time.

The first card uses the Kissing technique with a pink DP from Stampin'Up! The frame is a left-over scrap from creating THIS card. This is the reason you NEVER THROW AWAY YOUR SCRAPS!!!! Have I ever mentioned that before???
The second card is an embossed piece of Barely Banana cardstock using a technique I made up (I don't think I've seen it anywhere else) called Icy Windows. I'd really like to call it Frosted Windowpanes but I needed an "I" technique for my A to Z techniques theme so Icy Windows it is!

In defense of myself here - I know the little heart brads don't look evenly spaced - but the holes are in the right places. Unfortunately the manufacturer of the brads didn't align the post in the same place making one heart look lower than the other. HONEST - it's the truth!!!!

That's it for me today but be sure to check out Vicki Parson's, blog - Basement Stamper. She is giving away not one - but two - blog candy packages and they are fantastic!!!!


Have a great day today and a wonderful Easter.

Happy Stamping!
Jill

Thursday, April 9, 2009

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?

If you live in Central Illinois and are tired of cold, wet weather then you DEFINITELY are. I took this photograph at a friend's house the other day - just think, just a week or two more and these miniature little buds will be filling the air with their wonderul fragrance!



I've not felt much like stamping lately (what is WRONG with me????) but finally forced myself into my little studio last night. I have a technique's class coming up that I need to prepare for and this is one of the technique's I will be teaching. I'm not satified with the total card yet but did very much enjoy creating the image. I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Trish from WI asked about purchasing the snapdragon image in my last post - I'm sorry but it is a Jill's Jems original and is not for sale - YET! I have been playing with the idea of having some of my original drawings made into rubber stamps but haven't decided for sure - another idea is to market them as digi-stamps - but again I'm undecided. Once I've decided for sure however, you can be sure I will let you all know.

Thanks so much for your continued interest in my chatter and my work.

Have a great day and happy stamping!
Jill

Saturday, April 4, 2009

SNAPDRAGONS - JILL'S JEMS ORIGINAL

Just posting a card today - no chatter. Enjoy the silence.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day - and until next time -
Happy Stamping!!!
Jill

Friday, April 3, 2009

I WON AN AWARD!!!!

How cool is that???? My new blogging friend, Becky, awarded me this little "jem" this morning and it has totally set my day off on a happy note! Thanks so much Becky for the compliment!

I'm going to pass along this little guy to my Top 10 which you will find posted on the right side bar under My Inspiration. Take a peek at their work. Amazing stuff.

Off to bask in the sunshine now - although it is 3a.m. and still dark so I think I'm really off to bed again!

Have a great day everyone!
Jill

Thursday, April 2, 2009

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DRAGONFLY

. . .

and you thought you had it bad!!!! I was taking my break at work today, doodling on a piece of scrap paper when all of a sudden a frog began to take shape. He was just sitting there looking up into the air - and I started thinking about what he was looking at. Well of course he'd be looking for a tasty, little insect. I was going to leave the image with just the frog so I could pop up a dragonfly or butterfly image above him - but then my imagination took flight and I saw this image in my head. I know - I'm warped - I can't help it!!!! Everytime I looked at this drawing today I smiled. Then tonight when I showed the drawing to my hubby - he laughed out loud. We must have been married too long because we apparently share that same whacked out sense of humor.

Anyway - I thought it would be fun to color and make a card with it - and the 'hang in there' sentiment seemed appropriate. I used my new Prisma colored pencils and mineral spirits to color the image, added some sponging to the edges then made the wings and eyes "pop out" by covering them with Crystal Effects (which doesn't show up in the photo.)


So what do you think? Any ideas for other sentiments I could use with it?

Thanks for visiting. Until the next time -

Happy Stamping!
Jill

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

TAX DAY IS ALMOST HERE -

... and I am sooooooo tired of entering receipts to my spreadsheet - but Hurrah! I got them all entered this evening in time to allow me to play a little bit.

I hurried over to Hobby Lobby on my lunch break today with my 40% off coupon to purchase my Prisma pencils. I have a 50% off coupon for Michael's that goes into effect on Sunday and could have saved myself another $7 - but I HAD to have them today so I could experiment with them this evening. I couldn't wait the extra few days!!! So look closely at my card. Really closely. Do you see any coloring on this card???? NOPE!!! I was so tired by the time I finished with the tax work I wasn't in the mood to color. So I gathered up these beautiful papers from "The Paper Studio", used a couple of Nestabilities, a Sale-a-bration Set from Stampin'Up! for a greeting and a little bling. NOT at all complicated - but very fresh and Spring like. It makes me feel good just looking at it.

The flower is a cut-out from one of the designer papers. It is popped up off the card with a dimensional. My favorite part of the card is the little polka-dot button in the center of the flower. I also like the little gemstone placed inside the "o" in greeting. So what do you like best about it? Please don't tell me it's my use of the Prismas!!! :)

Hope you enjoyed your visit today and until tomorrow -
Happy Stamping!

Jill

NEW PROMOTION - NO JOKE!!!

The new Stampin'Up! promotion begins today - and that's no April Fools joke either. I've added hyperlinks to the right side bar of my blog which will open either of the current catalogs when you click on the picture. Make sure to check out the Occasions Mini - it has some really nice new sets - one of which I gave some sneak peeks of a while back. I will be placing the first order on April 15th so if there is anything you "can't live without" let me know by the 10th.

I also got a chance to try out a new Inkadinkadoo stamp set called Birds Galore . This set is a little out of my realm - it has a lot more frills than I normally prefer on animal designs - but I really liked the images. I stamped this image in Not Quite Navy then colored it using SU!markers . What an ugly choice of colors!!!! Nope - don't like it. Throw it away? No - just lay it aside and went come back to it later. When I came back I noticed that I had put it atop a scrap piece of embossed paper and thought it didn't look too bad up against the embossing. I cut a circle with my Nestabilities and laid the bird against it. The wing span of the bird just fit the circle and as I laid it together on my desktop I thought it looked like it was flying toward the moon - which is why I chose to sponge with So Saffron and Real Rust. It sort of gave it a moonglow.


The background paper was a happy find in my stash. I've had it for years and it just never fit a project that I was working on until this one. The little "stars" were perfect as was the matching color of blue that I used on the birds wings. The project to this point was looking a little "other worldly" - like something that inspires imagination - so I added the greeting from SU!'s Dream a Little hostess set to a scrap piece of sponged white cardstock then added three little bronze stars to finish. This is definitely different than my "normal" stamping style - but all in all I like the way it turned out. I keep thinking "Fly Me to the Moon" but when my hubby saw it, his response was "Peace on Earth" (yes - poor thing is color blind!) Hmmm - there's and idea though - maybe I'll keep that in mind for my Christmas cards this year!

Until tomorrow - happy stamping.
Jill