My First Canvas

This was a gift I made for my MIL for her b-day last month. It is a 10x10 canvas - I sponged Blush ink directly on the canvas and added the Cocoa textured CS for a border and then added the title and pictures. I used the Friendship Alphabet set (I just cannot get enough of that set, I LOVE it!) clear embossed on Cocoa textured CS and then cut out for the title, along with the pink dot paper from the Notebook pack, and Chocolate Rub-Ons.

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Thanks for looking!

Happy 'Ween!

Here is a slideshow of some of our pics and activities from this week...

The girls had a blast this week and we got some good use out of their costumes. Earlier this week, the girls each got to wear their costumes to dance class. Then Brailee got to wear hers to the Library party, and on Friday the girls had their school parties. Their costumes were so super easy and cheap this year - I didn't have to sew anything and I only bought a couple of things to add to their costumes, but they will get good use even after Halloween. Kaylee was Peter Pan and we found the shirt and pants on clearance at WalMart, and I know she'll wear them after Halloween! I was going to make her the hat, but my SIL Jamie still had hers from when her kids have been Peter Pan - it doesn't exactly match, but it worked! Brianna was Tinker Bell and I just bought the wings and the shirt (another clearance item which will also get worn after Halloween) and we re-used Kaylee's skirt from this year's dance recital. Brailee was Captain Hook and I was going to make her costume out of my graduation gown from college, but then I couldn't find it - I know I saved it and it's been in the dress up stuff for years but of course when I needed it, it was nowhere to be found! Anyway, I had a friend who just graduated this spring and still had hers, which she so kindly gave to me, but I just wasn't feeling inspired or motivated. Then on Tuesday, my SIL Sandy was over and I was feeling guilty for scrapbooking instead of making Brailee's costume, and then she reminded me that Kolbie was a pirate last year and she still had his costume, and she was SO awesome to let me use it! So then I found a plastic hook at Walgreens and voila - she's Captain Hook (or close enough anyway).

And here is a video of Brailee painting her pumpkin - this was the first time I've ever asked her to say 'Happy Halloween' and I just love how she responded - I had to trim the video down from the original because it was so huge, so excuse the poor quality.

I hope you all had fun! I can't believe it's November already!

November Challenges

Things have been pretty busy around here this week, and I haven't had a chance to get pics of my challenges, so I will post my samples within the next couple days, but for now, here are the challenges for November...

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Cherish Challenge - Puzzle Junkie - pages 112-113

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Reflections Challenge - Sidebar - Understated - page 49

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Imagine Challenge - Shadow - pages 114-115

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Originals Challenge - Triple the Fun - page 56

MCC #35

Now that I know Lynn received this card, I can post it without spoiling anything ;-) This was a card I created for MCC #35 and sent to Lynn for her birthday last week. I used the colors that Marjorie chose, but added Chocolate. I created the cupcake by running the wrapper piece (that was cut from some paper from Life Delights) through my paper crimper. Then I used the retired I Scream to stamp on the back of the Smokey Plum CS to create the bottom of the cupcake - this way I was able to make the cupcake the size I wanted. Then I dry embossed the outline of the cupcake top and sanded and cut out. I used Liquid Glass over the entire top to make the sprinkles stick. The sprinkles were punched out of Creme Brulee CS. I think it turned out fun and so different from something I would usually do - I hope it turned out okay, especially since it went to a fabulous stamper/card maker!

Anything Goes Challenge

Here is a fun round tin project that I did for Lynn's Anything Goes Bella Challenge. The requirements were to do a 3-D project with Bella and add bling! This is a tin to save memories of "the wait" - it's for a gift, so I'm not ready to share the inside pages yet, but I think the outside of the tin turned out fun - I added tiny sparkles all over the place - one on Bella's bow, one on the brad on the flower, one on the bow on the side of the tin (I don't think you can see it very well on the pics here), and then all around the Cocoa edge.

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Top View

Side View

Thanks for looking!

Turn that frown upside-down!

These pictures of Brianna just crack me up and I couldn't wait to scrap them. They were taken on our last camping trip this year, in Star Valley. These pics also worked great with one of Marjorie's old color challenges, so I used MCC #30.

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Brianna was so mad, and I don't remember why, but as soon as I started taking pics of that grumpy face, she turned it around really quick and got right in the camera with a big ol' goofy face. The big pic on the right page is blurry and her face is so nice and dirty in these pics, but they totally show off her fun personality.

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I used a PageMaps sketch from September 2007 and made a circle with Red Sparkles and a hand drawn arrow. I also used paper from the Game On pack, along with some Black Textured CS (I used the back for the gray arrow). I was going to emboss the words 'turn that' but I couldn't find my black embossing powder - I still plan on making those words darker, though, they seem really faded to me. Oh, and I used my Threading Water Fiskars punch for the scalloped edge, and Spot On Background stamp set on the Dimensional Elements.

Thanks for looking!

Wedding Card

I had a dear friend come over to make cards last weekend - she asked me to help her make a wedding card for her friend who is getting married next month. The closest colors to their wedding colors were Vineyard Berry, Chocolate, and Colonial White. We totally cased this card from the Originals book in the wedding section, we just changed the papers and stamps used. She was really happy with it and so was I - I haven't made too many wedding cards lately and I don't have any wedding stamps, but the Friendship Word Puzzle worked!

Please Vote!

Wanna see some DARLING Halloween pics - click here for the Walgreens photo contest - I also submitted two Halloween pics of Kaylee and Brianna, so feel free to vote for them - but don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't ;-) To find my pics, just type Jena in the first name search field. There are lots of cute pics, so take a look!

Super Saturday

Here are the projects that I taught on Saturday...card organizers made from the Acrylix Organizer OR fun little lunch box tins...

We also made some cards...

Inspired by Pat Pobst (sp?)

The next three were inspired by Lisa Stenz

Idea from last year's (?) Autumn/Winter Idea Book or maybe 2006?

Inspired by Diane Bowman (?)

Cherish Friends

This is a card that I made earlier this year, but I finally used it this week. I had a good friend go into the hospital on Tuesday in pre-term labor, so I gave her this card along with some yummy banana muffins when she finally came home. The scary thing is, I'm only about 6 weeks behind her, and she also has 3 girls about the same ages as mine, so it's hard to see her going through this. And just on Sunday, I had told her we needed to get pics together of our bellies - I thought we had plenty of time! Hopefully that baby will stay in at least a few weeks longer - she is in our prayers and thoughts.

PageMaps Blog Think Pink Sketch Contest

Update - Thanks to Marjorie for giving a blogger photo fix tip - it's a little more work, but hopefully the real problem will get fixed soon.

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I haven't done a layout for a while and it felt so good to get back to the pictures! This one was done for the latest PageMaps Sketch Contest - we were to use the sketch provided and scrap about something meaningful to you. My girls are my world, so I figured that would work ;-) Anyway, I just love these pictures of Brailee - she was barely 2 months old and had such a fun, crooked smile, isn't she cute! I have always wanted to use this quote and it was just perfect for these pictures. I used these fun Fancy Kewl papers, and these fun bright flowers and gems that Kari sent me for my birthday - they coordinated perfectly - thanks again, Kari! Once again, I used the Friendship Alphabet stamp sets - I just cannot stop using them! I clear embossed the title on the patterned paper and cut out. I used a Window Charm over the letter 'A' for the center of the green flower. Thanks for looking!

Teacher inspired cards

I had a gathering last week with a bunch of teachers, so this was the card I created for their Make & Take.

I also made this one about 5 minutes before the party just to show them another teacher inspired project, using a transparency. This was inspired by Michelle Zindorf, but I didn't use a brayer like she does, since I used the transparency to get the look she creates. I just used Black and Sunflower paper and White Daisy pigment ink. I LOVE this Creepy Cobwebs stamp set!

Pumpkin Patch

We finally got to go to the Pumpkin Patch last weekend - it was a perfect day and we went just in time because it started to get cold and snowy again on Tuesday! Things were looking really sad at the patch after the snow and frosts we had earlier this month, but we still found a couple of good pumpkins. We didn't have time to go through the corn maze, though :-( but maybe later! We are going to carve our pumpkins on Monday for FHE. Here are some pics from Saturday...

I absolutely could NOT get a decent pic of all three girls together, they didn't want to cooperate that day ;-P Sadly this is the best one! I did get a few good individual shots, though.

This is my favorite pic from that day - and Brianna had said she wasn't going to smile that day because she was mad that I had changed her hair ;-P She had about 20 hairclips in her hair and two half pony tails - it looked rather funky, especially since she doesn't have much hair to play with in the first place!

Happy Fall!

Just Because

I just had so much fun with Hannah's star card, that I had to make another one. I created this one for CTMH's Make It From Your Heart Rub-Ons contest and wasn't going to post it yet, but it fit Laurel's Blog Candy Challenge perfectly, so here it is! Her challenge was to make a Just Because card using pink and ribbon. I used Baby Pink textured CS, Chocolate CS, Shining Star stamp set (dry embossed instead of heat embossed this time), Say It In Style stamp set, and Chocolate rub-ons to create this card. It was really hard to get a good picture of this one since it's such a light pink and I did some dry embossing, but I hope you can see the detail - I may post more pics later! I used the light side of the textured CS for the inside of the card. You have until tomorrow to enter Laurel's Blog Candy Challenge, so good luck!

Oops...Blog Candy Winner!

Sorry, I had this post started and a winner picked last week, I just forgot to move it past the draft mode ;-P I had Brianna draw out a winner for my blog candy - congrats to...Yvonne! I love her fun costume she told about in her comment...

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"One year I made two heads out of nylons (using buttons for eyes and I put winter hats on the heads). I put my son in a sweet top and sewed a head on each sholder of the sweet top. He was the 3-headed monster! It was cute!"

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Here is what she won...

...some fun accessories - Hugz and Big Eyelets and a seasonal coaster frame that I made - this one just includes Fall and Winter, maybe by my 200th post for another blog candy I'll do Spring and Summer that time ;-)

I was only planning on doing a Fall side, but couldn't stop - if I would have known I was going to keep going, I wouldn't have used the Joy rub-on for the fall side - I guess I was in a joyful mood!

Thanks for stopping by!

Altered VHS Cases

Here are some projects that I have been working on for the last few weeks - I didn't want to post any until I got them ALL done and in the mail. The project got delayed by our house rearrangement, but I finally got them all sent out early last week, so hopefully they have all received them so I'm not spoiling anything ;-) These are some altered VHS cases that I made for some of my blogging/stamping friends - these are gals who have sent me fun cards and stamped images or have just been a huge support to me since I started my blog. I made my first maybe a couple years ago and still had a stash of cases to use, and since I don't have any fun images to stamp and return the favor, I decided these would be fun. I use mine as a tool box for my scrapping supplies - just a fun way to hold scissors, tape runners, etc. These were inspired by Yvette West (? - correct me if I got the last name wrong) she is a fellow CTMH Consultant who shared her fun idea on the CTMH boards.

First here is mine that I made quite a while ago...

And here are the gifts for my friends - it was fun to make these - each one became my favorite as I finished them ;-) I hope they like them!

This one is for Nicole

This one is for Ramsey

This one is for Laurel

This one is for Marjorie

This one is for Stacy

This one is for Nona

This one is for Kari