Growing in Unity - day 1

Hello and happy Monday! I'm super excited to be this week's Growing in Unity girl. Unity stamps make up the vast majority of my stamp collection... my husband even got me new Unity for Christmas last year. Hey, what can I say? I have good taste AND my husband is a keeper! :)

Today I have two cards to share; I make a lot of cards for Operation Write Home - they send blank cards overseas for our troops to write home to family and friends - and with the delay in sending mail overseas in time for it to have time to travel back here to the US, we are already on to Valentine's Day and love cards already. Crazy, huh? Anyhow, here's two I made with a fun Jillibean Soup/Unity set. One of these will probably go to my husband... he saw them and liked them both. :)

My Mind's Eye paper
Jillibean Soup/Unity set - hearty barley
Twinery twine
Papertrey ink smoky shadow card stock

My Mind's Eye paper
Jillibean Soup/Unity set - hearty barley
Twinery twine
Papertrey ink smoky shadow card stock

We are actually headed to Puerto Rico next Saturday for a belated 10 year anniversary trip. I am excited! And very overwhelmed. We will come to home to our youngest's birthday, then Thanksgiving, then our eldest's birthday just after that. EEEK!

Unity is allowing me to do a giveaway of 2 Itty Bitty stamps this week, so be sure to come back each day and comment to win! Have you seen the new releases? Oh my gosh - cute!!

Jen

OWH sketch 189 - my coolest friend

Hello and happy Sunday!

Time for another sketch challenge from Operation Write Home! I've been trying to use up some of my 6x6 pads that are nearly finished or those that are not my favorites... this one definitely falls into the "nearly finished" category. I love these bright winter patterns and colors! 

This was the first time I made a snow hill and didn't try to glossy accent the heck out of it. What do you know? I really like it plain (I know it's harder to see. I popped it up on dimensionals; you do see it more clearly in person.) 

This is sketch 189, by the way:

Crate Paper snow day collection
Paper Smooches swanky snowdudes
Smokey Shadow/PTI card stock

Thanks for visiting me today!

Jen

OWH/ODBD September challenge & 6x6 use it up challenge

Hello! 

Today marks the beginning of a new Operation Write Home/Our Daily Bread Designs challenge. This challenge is to use wheels. my first attempt... well, I would show you, but you wouldn't stick around very long - and I wouldn't blame you! :) So I went in a different direction, and went to find a trusty OWH sketch (this is 180), and I'm happy to show you the end result:

Hero Arts for OWH set
PTI smokey shadow card stock, Bazzill cherry splash and walnut cream
Momento tuxedo black ink, SU edge punch

Notice how I didn't use ANY patterned paper on that card? Are you shocked? Yes, me too. :)

And then... I've been trying to use up this My Mind's Eye Christmas 6x6 pad that I hate dislike kind of very much. I had a moment of inspiration the other day when I realized I could focus on using the non-holiday sides and go for more masculine themes.  I ended up making a few holiday cards and a few masculine. These are the holiday ones:

My Mind's Eye paper "merriest days of Christmas"
Stamps via Unity Stamp Co, Lawn Fawn, and Hero Arts for OWH

And these are the masculine ones:

Stamps via Unity Stamp Co and Paper Smooches

There were just a few scraps after finishing these, and you can bet I recycled them with no guilt. It was very much an "I shall conquer you" moment... and I am pleased with the end results. No one should use up (what you think is) ugly paper and have made ugly cards, right? That kind of defeats the purpose. This was not a full pad, by the way, maybe 2/3? And I ended up with 15 cards.

This weekend marks the end of the first week of school, our parish fall festival where I failed to make pies and instead purchased them with little guilt, and I think the littlest child is getting sick. On an up note, last night my husband and daughters spent time on YouTube looking for "homemade trapeze systems". Today he is the best.daddy.ever for getting them a trapeze bar for their play set.

Have a great weekend!

Jen

OWH/ODBD challenge for August

Yes that's not a terribly exciting title. Sorry, it's been one of those days. It's 5:30 pm and the girls fell asleep about 45 minutes ago. Do you see my problem??

Oh goodness gracious.

On the other hand, I do have a card for the August Operation Write Home & Our Daily Bread Designs challenge. Each month the (lovely) ODBD people challenge the (creative & talented) OWH people to make cards based on a theme for our heroes. If there are 25 cards linked, they will pay the cost to ship one box of cards overseas to our heroes; if 50 are linked, they will sponsor two boxes! What a generous thing, right?

The theme this month is using the colors brown, green, and pink. Voila:

Card stock: PTI ripe avocado and Gina K chocolate brown
Jillibean Soup patterned paper and embellishment
sentiment by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday

Thanks for visiting me today!

Jen

OWH MWT - punch cards

No, not discount cards, cards made with punches. That said, I LOVE me a good punch card (discount card). I prioritize stores that care about my return business. :)

Okay, so the OTHER kind of punch cards is the midweek challenge for Operation Write Home today. I have been living it UP with my sis and my nephews that are in town on vacation so this card is an oldie but one that I haven't shared before. I made it for a friend whose infant son was being baptized. I was short on time and decided to go with a simpler "congrats" card than try to finagle a baptism card with no baptism stamps.  I wish I would've taken a pic of the inside; I did the inside too with some pretty Verve scripture stamps and it looked nice. I thought so anyhow. 

As it goes, I was so busy taking a pic of the card before leaving for the party that I left the card in the lightbox. True story. I apolized the next day and she told me she knew the gift I had was from us since I had also decorated a tag for the bag. LOL

Paper Smooches sentiment
SU ribbon
My Mind's Eye (blink, maybe??)
PTI smoky shadow card stock

So there you have it! Punches. Of all kinds. sorry, I'm kind of punchy today (TIRED!!). LOL

Oooh, also, come see me Friday. I will have some great things to show you!!

Jen

OWH MWT - Christmas in July

Hello... is it Friday yet? It is HOT and HUMID here in Wisconsin. I've not been able to let the kids play outside much this week due to the heat... but we have taken advantage of our community pool's free swim program. For 45 minutes daily they are open for free; then they close and reopen an hour later. A little time to swim and then I'm not the bad guy who makes everyone leave when they were having so much fun? Total win/win. :)

Today's OWH mid-week challenge is "Christmas in July." Um, yeah. Last year I challenged the OWH ladies on Facebook to join in making a few cards per month with me... and a few did. This year I challenged them again and we had a LOT of ladies join in. It's very informal, but every now and then someone will update with how many she made for the month. I think it's awesome!

My goal is 5 per month until October, but some months I did one or two... others I made 20. Go figure. I'm packing up a few to start sending to Kris, so I pulled out a couple of my favorites:

MME designer paper, Gina K ivory card stock
Lawn Fawn stamps and sentiment
Sizzix snowflake emobossing folder
Nestabilities ovals

MME scraps - I couldn't bear to throw these, so I made a quilt card!
Paper Smooches sentiment
Bazzill card stock

Thanks for visiting me today! :)

Jen

OWH MWT and a BIG announcement! :)

There; hopefully I've lured you in.. and now I shall get on with the card first. :) 

It's Operation Write Home mid-week throwdown time and the challenge this week is masculine cards. Well, I was out of town on Sunday and never got around to sketch 180 when I returned, so here you go - a two-fer:

Paper - MME Stella & Rose
Card stock - PTI smokey shadow
Hero Arts for OWH sentiment
CTMH gray ink

What made this card much more difficult was forgetting to mat that rust-colored piece (I couldn't leave it. It didn't look right). I sliced off a couple of very thin strips of card stock, added a little liquid adhesive, and slapped 'em down (all in a calm, easy manner, mind you) and voila - I bet you couldn't even tell I had to fudge it. :)

And now for the BIG NEWS - I'm on the Lone Wolf Designs Design Team! Kris is the owner of Lone Wolf Designs LLC - here is her facebook link - and she provides crafting supplies at 25% off retail! Seriously, go check it out. I know how I love a good deal! Be on the lookout as I share some projects using the products she carries (Lawn Fawn, anyone?). 

Today was highly productive... I took the kids to the zoo for a free and up-close-and-personal look at "underground creatures", including some very reptilian ones. It will not surprise those of you that know me that I feigned an urgent bathroom need when they brought out the snakes... *shudder*.  Then I engaged my daughter and her friend in some child labor life skills (hulling strawberries with my super-duper cool and you will want one too strawberry huller and then mashing them); made jam, and then made pretzels with the girls once the friend went home. I can't decide if the cinnamon-sugar or plain ones are my favorite... with plenty of kosher salt!

Thanks for visiting me today!

Jen

Unity's FWF 6/21 - so this is love

Happy Friday! I'm so excited to once again be linking up with Friends with Flair over at the Unity blog! Last weekend I went to a local shoebox (card making) swap and since we had only 9 women, we had everyone make 2 cards so you could make one and take one from each person.

Last week I shared the first card I made; today is the favorite card reveal:

 Basic Grey Kioshi
Unity Stamp Co sentiment (so this is love set)
ribbon flower
PTI plum pudding card stock and ink
Gina K ivory card stock

Okay, I should clarify. We did vote on 'best card.' This was not the winner, but it is MY favorite and considering I taught several in the group how to make those ribbon flowers AND their own homemade glue dots I'd say this card definitely taught some of the group a new trick or two! And it's my favorite card. So there. :)

I made some with a different (non-Unity sentiment); this card showcases a much better ribbon flower. The above one I was clearly hyped on too much Diet Coke!

Thanks for visiting me today!

Jen

Drunken Stampers challenge 132 - Monty Python

Hello! Saturday has rolled around once again and I'm super excited for today... not only is it the new Drunken Stampers challenge, it's shoebox swap day! I'm headed to a local shoebox (card) swap where we'll make and take cards and eat some REALLY yummy food. I should know, I made my famous lemon dream cake for dessert. (Okay, it's not famous. But family requests it at least twice a year, which I think gives it total edge.) :)

The Drunken Stampers theme this week is Monty Python. Yeah... never seen it. All I know is they told me rabbits. I got those! They're even in my yard getting - as my seven year old says - "a free lunch" from our small container garden. Yeah. Not anymore, bunnies! I raised the containters and they better find a free lunch elsewhere! My children suggested catching them in cages so we could have bunny pets. Um, no.

I love how this My Favorite Things stamp set includes little sentiments that fit right in the heart. SO CUTE.

My Favorite Things stamps
Basic Grey paper
Gina K and Papertrey Ink cardstock
Nesties ovals/scalloped ovals
ribbon from stash

Thanks for visiting me today! Hop (haha, get it?) back to the Drunken Stampers blog to upload your own rabbitty creation and see all of the other inspiration projects!!

Jen

OWH MWT - things with wheels; bloghop winner!

Hello there! It's time for another OWH mid-week challenge and this week's challenge is to use transportation images. I went right to this fun My Mind's Eye paper for my card:

MME Away We Go
PTI smokey shadow card stock
Paper Smooches sentiment
chipboard arrow from Basic Grey

This card was inspired by sketch 156, flipped! :)

And I'm here to also announce the bloghop winner!

Random.org chose comment number 58, Rufus!

Rufus said...

In my next box, there will be lots of love cards and Hero mail. Can't have Sandy without!

R/

MAY 25, 2013 AT 9:50 AM 

Please email me at jennifer.mueller409 at gmail dot com to claim your prize. :) A new winner will be chosen after 3 days.

Jen

'

OWH MWT - thank you; end of April recap

I thought the forecast was for rain all day, but we ended up getting rain all night long - the grass is SO green now! - and today is 25 degrees cooler than yesterday, but pretty sunny. Which is a good thing, because I am very tired and it's keeping me awake. :)

I had cut a bunch of pieces from the last of this MME 6x6 pad using Sunday's sketch - it was a good one! - so I put a few pieces together to make a thank you for today's MWT challenge at OWH. I left the ribbon off; it just seemed better without. 

And now all of you can tell me if it clearly needs ribbon, LOL!

MME dwell, I think
PTI ripe avacado and ivory
Sentiment via Ali Edwards for TT

 Here's my end of April ATG recap: only 5! It was a busy month. And I have stacks of card kits here to assemble, so we'll see if I get to them THIS month. Sounds like mommy needs a card-making play date... 

five lonely rolls...

Thanks for looking! :)

Jen

Drunken Stampers challenge 120 - the birds

Hey there and welcome to another Saturday challenge for the Drunken Stampers! This week our inspiration is "The Birds." :)

I am a little (okay, like a LOT) scattered right now trying to plan a spur-of-the-moment trip for spring break, so I went simple. I just ADORE this stamp, though

Unity Stamp Co sentiment
My Mind's Eye papers
SU border punch
card stock: PTI and Gina K

Thanks for visiting me today! Be sure to hop back to the Drunken Stampers blog and upload your own bird-y creation! :)

Jen

OWH sketch 164 - happiness is

Hello and happy Sunday!

The sun is shining here in Wisconsin but they're forecasting more SNOW tomorrow. "Just a few inches" has translated into about 3" or so, they say. Good grief is what I say! I'm so tired of the cold. 

Today is sketch day at Operation Write Home and I really like this one! This is sketch 164 and here is my card:

MME Away We Go papers, PTI card stock
Basic Grey chipboard car
Unity Stamp Co sentiment
Momento Ink in potter's clay

I've been wanting to use that little chipboard car forever. I initially thought I had too many patterns going on in this card (the road background, the arrows, the cars) but I think it works. What do you think?

Thanks for visiting me today! :)

Jen

OWH MWT - recipe cards

Hello there and happy Wednesday! It has been so busy this past week - my house looks like a tornado whipped through it, LOL, which totally stresses me out - that I haven't had much time to craft!

Today's OWH challenge is a recipe challenge - 

2 patterned papers

1 twine/ribbon

1 die cut

1 embossing folder

I made this one first. While I love the papers, it's overall just kind of 'meh' to me. The ribbon looks a lot more coordinated than in the photo, I promise.  I combined a couple of sentiments but I'm not sure the mix in fonts works either. ARGH! 

My Mind's Eye Blink of an Eye
Sentiments from Ali Edwards/TT
Plaid embossing folder (on top pp piece)
Nesties labels 8

So then I made this one, and I like it a lot more. It's not crooked in real life. Maybe my head is crooked? I swear I have way too many crooked photos lately. :/

Hero Arts for OWH sentiment
My Mind's Eye Away we go paper
PTI smokey shadow card stock
CTMH ink; Twinery twine
Nesties small ovals

The embossing is harder to see in the second photo - I embossed the larger oval with a woven/linen embossing folder. It's subtle. :)

Thanks for looking!

Jen

owh vcmp - things with wings

It's another challenge for the Operation Write Home virtual card making party - things with wings! Go here for the challenge link. And go here for the list of all of the challenges!

I forgot I owned this stamp. :(  However, I LOVE how this card turned out. It's totally not what I first imaged making.

My Mind's Eye blink of an eye dp
Smokey Shadow - PTI card stock
Unity Stamp Co stamps
foam tape, Antique Linen (TH) and London Fog (momento) inks

Thanks for looking! :)

Jen

OWH sketch 157, the Paper Players sketch 130

Hello there on this snowy Sunday! We got sleet, some tiny hail, and lots of snow today. I'm headed out to shovel in just a sec; I put my girls to bed a few minutes ago and my oldest asked yet again if tomorrow will be a snow day. I don't think so, but you just never know! :)

Today is sketch day, both at Operation Write Home and the Paper Players. First up sketch 157 from The Stars and Stamps blog:

Basic Grey Hopscotch papers
Ocean Tides (PTI) and Dark Chocolate (Gina K) cardstock
unknown stamp set; glossy accents, foam tape
Divine Swirl embossing folder, Nesties labels 18

And then a new challenge for me, over at the Paper Players blog. I think I will become a regular there, I like their challenges a lot!! :) This is sketch 130:

Cosmo Cricket material girl papers
Gina K dark chocolate cardstock
Stamp: Unity Stamp Co
Sizzix button die, Twinery twine, We R sew stamper

That's all for me - gotta go shovel. :) See you later this week and thanks so much for visiting me today!

Jen

OWH MWT - green challenge

Hello! I took a few minutes out of today's crazy day (bad dream. overslept and apparently turned off the alarm. therefore missed morning Mass.) to play along with the Mid-week throwdown challenge over at the Operation Write Home site to use green on a card today. Fits in with yesterday's card, no? :)

I went for a classier love card this time; I think this one might even work for a girl to send home to her guy! 

Gorgeous paper by Jillibean soup; PTI ripe avacado & Gina K ivory c/s
Sentiment from Unity Stamp Co, hearts and some flowers colored with gold gel pen
Nesties labels 18, Tim Holtz inks: walnut stain, antique linen

Thanks for visiting me today! :) I'm hoping to get some more hearts die cut later this afternoon and make a few more of the easy ribbon tie love cards like I made last night. :) 

(Remember, OWH'ers get free shipping if you buy any 2 or more items on my stuff for sale page up ^^^ there. More stuff added today!)

Jen

Unity FWF 7/13 and Ippity Chicks sketch 39

Hey there and happy Friday! For the first time in forever, it seems, I am not crazy busy trying to pack up and head for the lake and post a card in the middle of it. I'm not sure whether to be glad or bummed! LOL


There's a new Ippity Chicks sketch up over at the Ippity Chicks challenge blog. I really like this sketch! 

My DH says this is an old lady card, so I asked why and he said he "doesn't like pastels."  Apparently he is hip and vibrant and active - his words, LOL! :) So,  friends, old lady card or no? :) You can be honest!

Ippity Stamps - Fabulous Girl
MME Stella & Rose dp (and some other MME too)
PTI ripe avacado
TM distress ink - antique linen
button punch and twine scraps

Thanks for visiting me today! Be sure to hop back to the Unity blog (Mr. Unity is having a birthday! BIG SALE!) and to see all of the great projects. You can win Unity stamps for commenting and linking up!


Jen

Some ribbon mojo

I've been following the Scrapbook Steals blog for a while now. They have lots of great ideas and tutorials, and recently, it's been all about ribbon. Since I organized my ribbon stash, I have the urge to use it up! LOL I never realized I had quite so MUCH ribbon. Anyhow, I promised myself that I wouldn't buy more until I used some up, so I've been working hard at using it.

I've been working on some Easter cards the past couple of days and thought I'd share these two cute ones:

DP: Papertrey Ink, SU c/s
Martha Stewart grass punch
Hero Arts pearls, Momento and SU inks
Ribbon flower/american crafts ribbon
Ippity by Unity stamps - sweet thoughts of spring

Ippity by Unity stamp set - Sweet thoughts of Spring
Divine swirls CB embossing folder
American Crafts ribbon, misc button from the jar
Martha Stewart grass punch
DP: Papertrey Ink; c/s SU

Dotty!

It's time for another challenge from Operation Write Home! This challenge is to use polka dots in a card. I have been really slacking at making cards for our household use lately, and we have several birthdays for our nieces and nephews coming up, so I thought I'd do a cute juvenile card!

I pulled out one of my animal stamp sets that I haven't used in a while and found this really cute DP from DCWV.

Card recipe:
Cardstock - scraps from the scrap bin
DP from DCWV
American Crafts polka dot ribbon
Giraffe stamp - Inkadinkado, I think
Dot background - Papertrey Ink
Sentiment - Lizzie Anne Designs

Do you ever need to google a picture of the animal stamp you have to color and then get more confused? Maybe it's just me. LOL!  They are supposed to have spotted legs and faces, too! :)

Thanks for looking!  Want to play along? Here's the challenge - and you could win a prize from the Paper Shelter for posting a card! Their digi stamps are adorable!