JoBoogie Stamping

christmas in august.

Years ago, when I first discovered scrapbooking (I think that was 1997...), I used to make my Christmas cards. Granted, I only had a handful of close friends to send them to so it was easy to stamp them all by hand and then heat emboss, add a few embellies, etc... Now that our family has grown, so has our Christmas card recipients list! There's no way I'm handmaking card anymore. Instead I settle for digital cards - I create the layout, of course, and just upload the image to Costco. Easy peasy.

But I was in the mood to make a Christmas card...

Maybe it was the "Rain Snow Shine" Miss Anya set from The Greeting Farm that inspired me! :)

Super simple card today. Used some more of my beloved SU! Baja Breeze CS and some SU! retired DSP. The snowflake punches are from the SU! Level 2 Hostess Set Christmas Punch. I used my SU! Boho Blossoms punch to punch them out - they're perfect for it! Added some Stickles to give the snowflakes a little bling and VOILA! A Christmas Card!

Have a happy Monday!

supplies:
CS: Baja Breeze (retired - SU!), Pure Luxury Ivory CS (Gina K.)
DSP: retired (SU!)
stamp: Rain Snow Shine set (The Greeting Farm), Christmas Punch (SU!)
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Chocolate Chip (SU!)
sentiment: Chit Chat rubons (SU!)
accessories: mini brads, Copics, large oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), dimensionals, Diamond Stickles, Boho Blossoms punch (SU!)

The Greeting Farm's Fall Gardener Call!

When I found out about The Greeting Farm's stamps a couple of months ago, I thought it would be so cool to design for them - after all, I use their stamps on pretty much at least 80% of my recent projects now!

So, there has been a Fall Gardener Call (design team) that ends TOMORROW at noon CST. I was hemming and hawing about whether or not I should try out. I don't have really good luck with DT calls and it's more of a disappointment in my creativity than anything. I stopped applying for a while to give myself a break, but when I heard about TGF's DT call, I had to try out.

You never know right?

One of the application requirements is a take on a "Circus Theme." Hmmm, I thought to myself. What could I do with that? Well, a POP-UP card, of course?!

Here's what the outside looks like:

I used TGF's Showtime set. And used some glittery DSP to make it look like flashbulbs going off behind cute little Anya. I got the idea of making fishnet stockings from Traci (WickedPixie) and used my Copic Multiliner SP 0.3. It was tough getting the little lines parallel! I added some Diamond Stickles to Anya's hat and jacket to make her really shine... And I added some to the yellow "spotlight" in the corner too.

And now for the inside:

(It can't lay down flat because of the ribbon on the front!)... Anyway, I paper pieced the "big top" tent with my own design. I actually like  how it turned out!

When I started scrapbooking over 10 years ago, I LOVED making pop-up pages (easier to do with Creative Memories albums/strap hinge albums). They were a lot of work and they were time consuming, but I loved the reaction I'd get from people who would flip through my books. :)

And that's the inside... I punched a circle with a sentiment stamped inside and enough room to add something handwritten too. (ooh and I'm just noticing my elephant is popping up from the card. I think it was because I was opening and closing the card so much while admiring my hardwork! - I need to ad more adhesive. *lol*)

Wish me luck!!!

Even if I don't make the team, this challenge allowed me to really think outside the box and step a little away from my comfort zone. It's not your typical - buttons, paper flowers, ribbons - card. And I like it that way. :)

Good luck to everyone who decides to try out for Fall Gardener and Club Anya! Can't wait to see what people come up with!

Have a beautiful week! :)

using what I have...

I try to keep this mantra in my head, but it's so hard when there are so many awesome projects out there using stuff I don't have, but would like in my stash! A neighbor friend came over a couple weeks ago to chat and I showed her my scrap room/office (she asked to see it!) and noted how much stuff I have!

I do have to admit, though, I'm getting good at using my scraps up (you'll notice a lot of cards use feature the same patterned paper or the same color palette of cardstock)... so I reward myself with buying more. I'm terrible, I know... but it's my stress reliever! Stamping, Scrapping and Shopping for scrapping/stamping supplies - LOVE it! *lol*

Anyway, here is today's card. It features TGF's Wild Sprouts Bree. Super sassy and girly. Totally looks like she's got an attitude going on! *lol* I used some retired cardstock from Stampin' Up! The bird paper is from Lime Rickey (Basic Grey) and the dotted paper is retired DSP from SU!... You see that ribbon? It came in a pack of 5 spools at the Target Dollar section a couple years ago! Love using what I find in my room. :)

Thanks for visiting today! The family and I are off to Monterey to spend time with some friends and have some good ol' clam chowder (I don't care if it's hot outside - this clam chowder is the BEST!) and we're going to hit up the BEACH! Super fun!

Have a fabulous weekend!

supplies:
CS: Soft Sky (retired), Summer Sun - SU!, Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: Lime Rickey (Basic Grey), Good Morning Sunshine (retired - SU!)
stamp: WS Bree (TGF)
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
sentiment: Chit Chat Rubons (SU!)
accessories: ribbon, Large Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), corner rounder, dimensionals, Copics

Your Next Stamp 1st Design Team Call!

Well, I'm probably late, but I'll give it a shot anyway! I found this new stamp company via my girl Ashley's blog and I thought I'd give it a try! Your Next Stamp's images are super adorable and they'd go great with my ever-growing Copic collection!

The only problem is that I found out about this DT call quite late - just today. And I've been so tired and stuff, I didn't get a chance to post my submission to my blog. The deadline is today!

Technically, where I am, it's only 11:30pm or so... so I'm not quite late... But I probably am.

Anyway, the submission process is easy - post 2 of my favorite recent cards:

 

Here's one you all haven't seen before! It's Birthday Anya from The Greeting Farm! I made this card especially for my sister's upcoming birthday. I hope she likes it! I think the image looks a lot like her! I also used some dew drops for the first time - I need to invest in more!

supplies:
CS: Pink Pirouette (retired), Whisper White (SU!), Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: The Greeting Farm
stamp: Birthday Anya (TGF)
sentiment: Chit Chat rub-ons (SU!)
accessories: stitching rub-ons (Daisy D's), dew drops, Diamond Stickles, ribbon (SU!), large circle and scallop nestabilities, corner rounder, Copics, dimensionals.

And here's my second favorite card:

I don't know why this is a favorite of mine... I think it's because of the color combination. You know how I love me some pinks and greens! I won't list my supplies here since I've previously posted this card, but I hope it brings me some good luck!

Hope I'm up for consideration for this DT! I think it will be fun! :)

Have a great day!

finally - a redhead! *lol*

I thought I'd try my hand at a different hair color for my TGF images. This little cutie Wild Sprouts Reeta just screamed "redhead" to me!

Super fun!

I actually had colored her a while ago - like a few weeks ago - but I just now got a chance to place her on a card. What do you think?

I used another sheet from my 6x6 Basic Grey Lime Rickey pad, SU! cardstock and more SU! Chit Chat rub ons (I LOVE that stuff! It's my most used SU! accessory at the moment - I can make SO MANY different cards ranging from birthdays, holidays, sympathy, thinking of you.... Even if you've never bought anything from Stampin' Up!, you should invest in these rub ons at the very least. They're so versatile!)

Anyway, what do you all have planned for the weekend? My birthday is next Friday. Unfortunately, I have to work all weekend (the 4th, 5th, and 6th). So we're doing a very small celebration this weekend - lunch in Monterey tomorrow with some friends, and dinner on Sunday with my BFF Corinne and my godson. :) I couldn't think of anything extravagant to do this year so we're spending it very low key.

And I can't wait for THIS to come in the mail. It's my birthday present from the hubby. :) We have a traditional camcorder but it's too bulky to carry around ALL THE TIME. I thought a small camera like this would be perfect for capturing little clips of the kids every once in a while. I feel like we're missing out on SO MUCH. I want to preserve the memories! :)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Happy Friday!

supplies:
CS: Tangerine Tango (retired), Summer Sun - SU!, Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: Lime Rickey (Basic Grey)
stamp: Wild Sprouts Reeta (The Greeting Farm)
sentiment: Chit Chat rub ons (SU! 111804)
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
accessories: Copics, mini brads, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Coluzzle, Modern Label punch (SU!)

don't you remember you called me baby?

*lol* Name that song!

Here's a hint: I love to sing it on karaoke. It's by a band from the 70's. The title of the song is the name of this Anya!

Give up?

It's "Superstar" by The Carpenters! :)

I LOVE songs by the Carpenters. It takes me back to the days I used to sing karaoke on our first machine - an 8-Track one! *lol* I loved "Top of the World" and "Rainy Days and Mondays"... those were some classic songs. Such a shame Karen Carpenter passed away so sadly. Her voice will forever be timeless.

Anyway...

Here is my card for today. I started playing around with Basic Grey's 6x6 paper pads. The patterned paper  on this card is from the Lime Rickey pad. Super cool. LOVE LOVE LOVE 6x6 for card making - where the heck have I been not to know about these?!

I love how this Anya turned out. She's so cute and ready to party with her favorite band (in my case -'NSYNC...but we'll save that story for another day! *lol*)

supplies:
CS: Summer Sun, Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango (retired) - SU!, Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: Lime Rickey (Basic Grey)
stamp: Superstar Anya (The Greeting Farm)
sentiment: Chit Chat rubons (SU!)
accessories: star eyelets, Coluzzle, Copics, scallop border punch (SU!)

sugar and spice...

and all things nice!

That's the challenge this week at Anyone for Anya?

It's kind of a broad challenge with a lot of room for interpretation - which I really like. I don't like challenges that are TOO restrictive. I guess It's the rebel in me.

Here's a story that will make you laugh - when I was 4, my parents enrolled me in ballet, tap, and gymnastics. I quit all of them after the first day! I remember that during the ballet class the teacher wanted us to line up and I REFUSED. And the more the teacher and my dad insisted, I refused even MORE! *lol* Maybe that's why, now, I don't like doing things if I'm forced to do it.

Looking back on it now, I regret quitting those classes... I do have a love for music and dance and it's a shame I didn't stick with it.

Anyway, this is my interpretation of AFA's Sugar and Spice  and All Things Nice challenge:

One of my favorite books is "Memoirs of a Geisha"...Geishas had to appear demure and very feminine, but they were also intelligent, strong, witty, and well-rounded.

Love this Geisha Anya image from TGF!

I thought I'd pair it with a few flowers and do some heat embossing for dimension.

Thanks for visiting today! Happy Hump Day!

supplies:
cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant - SU!, Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: Razzleberry Lemonade (SU!)
stamps: Geisha Anya (TGF), Eastern Blooms (SU!)
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark
sentiment: Chit Chat Rubons (SU!)
accessories: flowers (Prima), mini brads, dimensionals, Nestabilities, Copics, Modern Label Punch (SU!)

sweethearts.

I got into digital scrapbooking a couple years ago. I'm always willing to try new things when it comes to paper crafting and I thought I'd try my hand at digital work. I actually discovered I liked it and, surprisingly, a couple of my digi layouts have been published (for some reason, my traditional layouts never have gotten picked up! Maybe I'm a better digi scrapper than traditional one! *lol*)

Anyway, I still dabble here and there, but my true love lies with traditional - there's something about the look and feel of real paper and embellishments. After all, it's the 3D stuff that got me hooked  on this hobby in the first place...

Well, then I kind of fell off the scrapbooking planet... only to have picked it up again. I would say my creativity meter is leaning more toward the rubber stamping side of things at the moment, but I still enjoy both hobbies equally. And when I recently got into rubber stamping, I heard of "digital stamps". It got me curious. I wondered if they were like scrapbooking brushes AKA "stamps". I downloaded a couple from TGF and really enjoyed playing with them!

pros:

• they don't take a lot of space in the scrap room. They don't take up any physical space - they're loaded onto the computer!
• running my Gina K. cardstock through my Epson R1800 is no problem with these stamps. I can use my Copics with them and they don't bleed
• They're easily alterable in Photoshop, but I still have yet to discover that!
• They're cheaper than actual physical stamps

cons:

• they don't give me the same "high" I get when I trim the rubber off new stamps. *lol*
• they take up space on my hard drive - not a bad "con" but my MacBook Pro is running out of room!
• It's just not the same as stamping with rubber and seeing my rubber collection grow.

Anyway, here's an anniversary card I made for my parents' 34th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago using TGF's 50's Sweetheart digi stamp. I added some bling to the heart and used some Stickles. I wanted Ian's jacket and pants to look like leather so I applied a really thin layer of Glossy Accents and let it dry.

I really like the way it turned out! Hope you did too!

Have a great day!

supplies:
CS: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette (SU!), Pure Luxury White CS (Gina K.)
DSP: retired (SU!)
stamps: 50's Sweetheart (digi - The Greeting Farm), Congrats (SU!)
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Real Red (SU!)
accessories: Copics, Glossy Accents, Diamond Stickles, Dimensionals

Mojo Monday!

A few weeks ago I discovered Mojo Monday and added them to my Google Reader. I never had a chance to play along with their sketch challenges but I've always found their sketches really inspiring and motivational... and out-of-the-box for me.

Last week, I guess, was their 100 week anniversary and they had sketches everyday!  Super fun. I only had a chance to work on one, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out...

Here's the sketch:

 

And here's my card:

I just love this new stamp from C.C. Designs! Super cute! :) And it's especially fun to color and experiment with my Copics.

Thanks for visiting today! Happy Monday!

supplies:
CS: Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss (SU!), Pure Luxury Ivory CS (Gina K.)
DSP: SU!, Making Memories, Fancy Pants
ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), brown chalk ink (unknown)
stamp: Swiss Pixies Heidi Among Flowers (C.C. Designs)
sentiment: Chit Chat rub-ons (SU!)
accessories: Modern Label Punch (SU!), Dimensionals, mini brads

I'm back!

Ack! It's been one whirlwind couple of weeks! It's taken a while to recover from SIL's wedding on the 15th and it's taken me a while to get back in the groove of paper crafting. I've been stealing time here and there, rushing with projects before I hear my little man call, "Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?" *lol* Sometimes I have good days when both kids are napping at the same time. But there was a period of time last week when Malia would want to eat almost EVERY OTHER hour. I felt like we were back at square one in the newborn phase again!

Thankfully, we're back to normal and I've got my groove back.

Today's cards are Stampin' Up! cards. I had bought the "Lots of Bots" (11593) set a while back and kept forgetting to ink the images up! I also bought the new In Color markers (116329) and haven't had a chance to play since I discovered Copics!

 

Super simple card especially made for a boy. I didn't embellish too much (actually I didn't embellish at all!). I wanted to just use the stamp set. :)

supplies:
CS: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White - SU!
stamps: Lots of Bots (SU!)
ink: Basic Black (SU!)
markers: Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry (SU!)

Here's another card I made. This one is for my Dad's belated birthday on the 13th. I know it's late. It's been a rough August for all of us!

Just used a bunch of scraps I had lying around. I LOVED SU!'s Baja Breeze and was really sad to see it retire. It was probably my most used color - and I discovered it SO LATE! I'm happy I have an ink pad, but I'm bummed I didn't stock up on more cardstock. I probably only have 3 sheets left. :( I hope for a comeback one of these days!

supplies:
CS: Baja Breeze (retired), Whisper White, Kraft - SU!
DSP: retired SU!
stamps: Big Bold Birthday (SU!)
ink: Baja Breeze (retired), Basic Brown, Chocolate Chip - SU!
accessores: dimensionals

Have a fabulous day! :)