Home Is Where Your Valentine Is

I'm sharing two cards today. The first card showcases the Bee Happy stamp set from A. Jillian Vance Design. I love this set. It is so stinkin' cute. I used my Silhouette die cutting machine to create the hexagons and used the negative for the card. Using foam dots, I carefully applied yellow cardstock behind it and adhered it all to a black card base. Then, I stamped the bees onto yellow cardstock and again onto gray cardstock. I fussy cut the bees and pieced them together before adhering them to the card. I tried to make it look like the bees were flying in and out of the honeycomb. Did I succeed?

I hope so because there is a challenge over at the Moxie Fab World blog to make a window card and I'm entering this card into the challenge, which runs til Feb. 4. You can enter, too. Just make a window card and add your link here.

Card number two is a valentine created with A Little Love stamp set also from A. Jillian Vance Design. I stamped the image and sentiment onto kraft cardstock then cut it out with a circle punch.I had a medallion I picked up on clearance at Michael's a while ago. It was the perfect size. Yay! Then, I created banners and adhered them to the back of the medallion. The stripes on the kraft background were created with ribbon, washi tape and designer paper. I love to use a mixture of embellishments to add texture and visual interest to a design.

Thanks for visiting!

"The Contenders" Blog Hop

Hi everyone!! It's baaaack! That's right. The blog hop for those of us who submitted projects to Paper Crafts Magazine, but didn't make it into the publication is back with a new name - The Contenders! Why the new name? I wanted the name to focus more on the projects rather than the rejection. We all worked very hard and I know that all our projects are absolutely gorgeous. Let's celebrate our creativity and inspire each other!! Paper Crafts Magazine has limited space. They can't take all of our work. I'm sure they would if they could!!

I only have a few rules. Here they are:

• Feel free to link any project you created that didn't make the cut and that you don't plan to resubmit to another call in the future. 
• Please remember to add the link to the actual post, not your general blog address. 
• If you don't have a blog, you can link to an online photo sharing site like Flickr. 
• Share as many projects as you like.
• You can link anytime between now and Sunday at 11:59, which is when the collection closes.
• Please take time to look at participant's work and leave an encouraging comment.

Today, I'm sharing two projects I made. Both are for the nautical themed call.

I created this one primarily by cutting paper into shapes using scisors and punches. The wood planks were created with a stamp by Unity and some distressing. I added twine to both the banner and the life saver and stamped it with a sentiment from Joy's Life stamps.

To create this one, I first added paper and washi tape to my card base. I added the captain's wheel, which I made with my Silhouette Cameo and embellished the card with a star, gem and some flair by Bossy Joscie!! The sentiment is from A. Jillian Vance Design.

Thanks for stopping by. Please add your link below to participate and hop along!

Mini Cards

I have some cute little mini cards to share with you today. I plan to sneak them in my son's lunch box as a little surprise pick me up. He packs only once every two weeks - on the day they serve hamburgers! Can you believe it!? A kid who doesn't like a good burger. Gotta love him, though!

Before I share the cards, I want to invite you all to a blog hop I'm hosting called The Contenders. Anyone who submitted a project to the latest Paper Crafts Magazine call and didn't get an acceptance email is welcomed and encouraged to participate! I will have a post on my blog on Thursday at 8 am. with an Inlinkz tool. Just link the post to your actual project. You have until Sunday evening to link up! Let's inspire and encourage each other!! 

And now for the mini cards:

 The cards measure 2 3/4 x 3 1/2. They're just the perfect size for a lunch box. I am entering these pint-sized cuties in the Moxie Fab World Itty Bitty Card Challenge. The challenge doesn't end until Feb. 4, so if these cards inspire you to make some, feel free to enter the challenge, too!

 
I used the following sets from A. Jillian Vance Design:

AJVD Sneak

Hi friends and followers! I'm just doing a quick sneak today. My poor family has been sick for nearly two months, even though we all got the flu shot back in the fall. Ugh! My daughter now has an ear infection. We have an appointment in a couple hours.

Here's a card I made with A. Jillian Vance Design's new {SEED}iments set. You can get more deets on their blog.

First Ever Pinspired Challenge!

There's a new challenge in town and it's an exciting one! It's called the Pinspired Challenge. Designers are given an image found on Pinterest and asked to create a card using the image as inspiration. This challenge is right up my alley!

Speaking of alley, the prize for the winner is a stamp set from Alley Way Stamps. Pretty fun. I am throwing my hat in the ring! (Or should I say "I'm throwing my hat in the alley? Hee hee)

Here is my card  ...

... which is inspired by this image:

As you can see, I drew inspiration from many elements of this photo. The colors, the circles, the lollipops and the birthday cake elements in the "Pinspiration" image are also in my card.

Products used include:
Stamps: A. Jillian Vance Design
Lollipop brads: Eyelet Outlet
Embossing powder: Stampendous
Cake image: Silhouette Studio

I love the bright, neon colors when paired with black. They really seem to pop against the black, creating a nice contrast and visually interesting design. I really like the outcome of this card. I look forward to playing in more of these Pinspiration Challenges. You can play, too! Just create a card inspired by the image above, post it to your blog and link it to the challenge blog post here.

Hi everyone! Check out the card I made for A. Jillian Vance Design. I used one of their new releases called Live Simply. (See below.) I love the adorable folk art images.

For more deets on how I made this card, check out the A. Jillian Vance Design blog.  Hopefully this card will add a little sunshine to your day! Here is the Live Simply set. Aren't those folk art images just adorable!?!

SCS Featured Stamper

I used to play in the Splitcoast Stampers challenges all the time. Then I started playing in other challenges and working on design teams. Next thing I knew, I had stopped playing in the SCS challenges altogether. One of my goals this year is to get back to SCS. I love that community. I made friends and learned a lot!

Today, one of my friends from Stampendous is the featured stamper in the Featured Stamper challenge. I'm so excited to be CASEing Janelle from Rain Puddle Designs. She is immensely talented and super sweet, too. I really hope the card I created in her honor can do the original justice. It's beautiful.

Here is the my card:

Here is Janelle's inspiration card:

Congratulations, Janelle. I hope you like my card!

New Year, New Adventure!

Happy New Year!!! Let's hope that 2013 brings us a lot of luck! So far, the year is starting off with a new adventure and I hope I can "rise" to the occasion!

I am thrilled to announce that I will be designing for A Jillian Vance Design. Never heard of them? Well, you should check them out b/c they have super cute stamps, matching dies by Spellbinders (some of them very unique and one-of-a-kind), high quality products and superior customer service. Oh, and one more thing. Jillian Vance, the owner, is 13. She started the company two years ago with the help of her parents, both of whom are savvy business owners. Don't let her age fool you. She's got a gift. Go on, see for yourself by clicking here. (Well, read my post first, then go check it out.)

 To honor this momentous occasion, I made a surprise pop-up card using AJVD stamps (of course). The cute balloon is from the set Whimsical Journey and the sentiment is from Mini Whimsical Balloons.  This card may look a little familiar to some of you. I made a similar card a couple years ago. Have you ever made something and thought "If I ever do this again, I would change this and do that, blah, blah, blah ..." Well, that's what I did. I guess you can say it's like starting over fresh, kind of like when you ring in a New Year, right!?!

Now, go ahead and check out A Jillian Vance. You will be pleasantly surprised.