Thursday, October 9, 2008

Addicted to Creativeness

First off, let me tell you how addicted I am to the computer. I work behind it for at least 8 hours a day at my "professional" job. And then I come home and relax by getting on my laptop and surfing the web for at least another 2 hours. I just can't help it. There is soo much good stuff out there. I look at over 75 blogs on my Blog Reader - which I have no clue how I ever lived without - and then there are so many great stamp company's out there that always have new stuff that I drool over. And don't even get me started on UTube and the endless amount of great video tutorials there are.

***Side Note - If you are a Photoshop nerd, like I am, check out the "You Suck at Photoshop" videos here! You need to be a Photoshop nerd to completely get it, but even if you are just an amateur Photoshop user, you will laugh at these!

So now onto the card :) This is one of the cards that I put into my Aunt Karen's folder. I wanted to create a unisex birthday card for her to be able to send to anyone celebrating a birthday. Unforunately, I do not think I accomplished the "unisex" part. Perhaps if Iwould have used a present instead of a cupcake it would have been better???

Supplies Used: Birthday Basics Stamp Set (PTI), ClearDesign: Cupcakes Stamp Set (Hero Arts), Summer Sunrise Saddle Stitch Ribbon (PTI), D'vine Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Happy 50th Aunt Karen

I love making homemade gifts for my family, my friends, and even the friends of my family! So when my mom asked me to make some homemade cards as a birthday present for my Aunt Karen, I said yes!

First Card Folder

Awhile ago I found a wonderful tutorial on SCS that showed how to make a folder that held notecards. I quickly printed it out and made a small set for myself. Unfortunately, this was back when I didn't bookmark things properly, and now I can't find it!

Individual Notecards

Anyways, I decided to make this folder and create 5 different cards for my Aunt Karen to use whenever she needed them.


Unlike the previous set, which is of very bright/summer-like colors, I decided to choose colors that were found in a piece of polkadot paper that I purchased awhile back. All of the cards (which I will show throughout this week) are based on this color scheme. I loved them all and I hope that she did too!

Aunt Karen's Folder

Friday, October 3, 2008

Mosaic of Me

I was on my Blog Reader the other day and came across a neat post from Jen...in a nutshell. What you do is answer a simple 12 question quiz, use your answers to find a picture in flickr (must be on the first page that comes up), and then create a mosaic out of your favorite pictures using Mosaic Maker.


Here are the questions with my answers:


1. What is your first name? Jenn
2. What is your favorite food? Italian
3. What high school did you attend? Fuquay-Varina High School
4. What is your favorite color? Dark Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Matthew McConaughey
6. Favorite drink? Lemonade
7. Dream vacation? Anywhere with a beach
8. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Happy
10. What do you love most in life? Family & Friends
11. One word to describe you? Creative
12. Your Flickr name? don’t have one


And here is my mosaic...1. Jenn's Vintage Lemon Drop Lane Action, 2. Arriving at the Italian Riviera, 3. Sunset over FVHS, 4. Dark Tulip | Second of Three, 5. Matthew McConaughey, 6. pink lemonade, 7. back to my childhood beach, 8. Ice cream, 9. Happy Valley 跑馬地快活谷, 10. FRIENDS HOME FAMILY, 11. creative reading, 12. Perspectives

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Working the Weekend

For those of you who don't know, my main money making job is as a graphic designer. There are times when this job requires me to sit all day with my laptop on my lap creating tons of projects for people who are better procrastinators than I am. This just happens to be one of those times. So while I am waiting on something to appear in my e-mail, I decided that now would be a good time to write a quick blog :)

This card I made a few weekends ago was cased from a very talented Rebecca Oehlers. If you have never seen her blog, you really need to go over there. She is such a talented woman!

Well, I told you this would be quick. Now back to my "real" work. Enjoy your weekend, since I will be working through mine :p

Always, Jenn

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Lazy Day :)

Don't you just LOVE a lazy weekend?!? No where to go and nothing really needing to be done?!? These days, this kind of weekend is few and far between. I usually have something on my calendar to do or something (mostly chores) that needs to be done. But not today. Today I slept in until 10 (a record for me) and then got up and read some, took a nap (I NEVER get to do that anymore), played with my new obsession (Animal Crossings: Wild World), and then sat and filtered through the 100+ blog entries that are marked as new on my blog reader. I am always at awe at how creative these women are. I just hope that some day my stuff can be half as creative as there's are.
I haven't done any card making today, although I am very tempted to pull it out now even though it is 11:30. I guess I will see how I feel when I finish blogging.

These simple cards are a set of "One Liners" that I made last weekend. They were inspired by some cards that I saw on the C.C. Designs blog. I have a variety of stamps that makes creating this kind of card almost thoughtless.

Well, I guess I will bid you all adeau for now. Hopefully, I will have something new to post tomorrow!

Sweet Dreams All.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Daisy, Daisy...

Hello everyone! I cannot believe that the week is already half way over! I LOVE long weekends. They make the rest of the work week fly by. Only 2 more days and I can spend more time crafting. Until then, I will spend my time pars using the 50+ blogs that I look at each day and find some inspiration! (Yes, I really do have that many blogs on my Blog Reader. I am hopelessly addicted to it!)


The card I am sharing today is one that I made last weekend. It is inspired by Even though this card has such a simple layout, I absolutely love it. I think is one of the cards that I will be making this weekend! It can be a thinking of you card, a RAK card, or even a birthday card. It all depends what is written inside it.


I hope you enjoy my card today. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Believe...

I cannot believe that it is already Labor Day and the end of summer. People have always told me that time flies when you get older and boy, is that true. I just don't know where the summer went. All of a sudden Alia is back in school and I am seeing Halloween stuff on all of the store shelves. Even the stamping world is focusing on making Christmas crafts for the upcoming season! It is just hard to get in that fall spirit when it is still 90+ degrees outside. That's North Carolina for you!

I have really enjoyed this long weekend off. Although I have spent some of my time working, I have also had some time card making and I am very excited to show all of you what I have made.

I am going to start with my favorite card of the bunch. This card was inspired by one of Dawn McVey's "Orange on my Brain" cards. They were all so simple and beautiful. I loved the idea of using a monochromatic scheme.

Since most of my cards use at least four colors, stamping in just one color is quite different for me. I decided to use blue for my monochromatic scheme. The flowers I used are from Heidi Grace's Getting Places - Winnefred Street line. The sentiment was created using Hero Art's Small Variety Alphabet. I also used a bit of ribbon and added a some sparkle to the word "believe."

Well, since the day is only half done, I think I am going to spend some mother-daughter time with Alia.

Until next time....