card making

Let’s Get Beachy

/ Jodi / 58 Comments

PP258 Wetlands Beach Theme

This week’s theme at The Paper Players is to make a “Clean & Simple” Beach-Themed card, so for my #PP258 design team inspiration card, I used a watercolor abstract I had made when I was at the beach recently.

I stamped some cute little seagulls on it from the StampinUp Wetlands Stamp Set.  Then I simply added a black die-cut “hello” greeting, matted the scene in black, and put on a crumb cake card stock.  Voila – a clean and simple “Let’s Get Beachy” card.

PP258 Wetlands Beach Theme

Hope some of you will join us this week at The Paper Players with your interpretation of “Let’s Get Beachy!”

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Lupines in Watercolor

/ Jodi / 39 Comments

lupine purple note card

Hubby asked if I could make a card for a friend the other day. 

lupine blue note card

I had seen some lupines done in a similar way with a stamp set to what I created here, but I wanted to try doing with watercolor in a variety of colors.

lupine pink note card

I wanted a torn look to the watercolor paper to give it just a little more personality, and I had fun trying different colors.  Hubby like the purple the best when I showed them all to him, so I added a “Thinking of You” sentiment and wrote a personal message inside.

lupine blue 2 note card

Also, after a bit of coaxing and prodding and urging, I decided to go ahead and open up an Etsy shop in case anyone would like to purchase some of my cards.  I have slowly started adding some of the things I have “in stock.”

I noticed many people sell prints of their watercolors, but I am featuring my original collection I have begun creating.

If you are looking for a special card, check out my ArtatLifeinBetween Etsy Shop.   I will continue to add and update.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Happy New Home

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

PP257 Happy New Home Card

It’s a color challenge this week at The Paper Players, and I needed a Happy New Home card for some dear friends we were visiting this weekend in their new home.

The challenge is to use Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, and Old Olive colors in a card.

happy new home card pp257

So for my designer inspiration card for #PP257, I had fun using those three colors to make the new home stand out on the street.

I added the card to a basket with some wine, homemade cookies and some sea salt milk chocolate truffles, and off we went to visit our friends.

happy new home basket

To make this card, I used the following:

  • StampinUp Inks:  Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
  • StazOn Black Ink
  • Whisper White and Craft Card Stock
  • Stampinup Holiday Home Stamp Set
  • Blender Pen to color the house
  • Dimensionals to make the new home “stand out”

Hope my crafty stamping card-making friends will join us this week at The Paper Players Challenge.  We always enjoy the inspiration and creativity.

And… Happy New Home Jim and Mary!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Thank You Berry (Salsa) Much

/ Jodi / 9 Comments

thank you berry much

Thank you cards might be my favorite cards to make and send.  There is something so heartwarming about putting to art and words your feelings of gratitude and sharing it with the person you are thankful to.

So when one of my co-workers did something especially nice and helpful (which is a regular occurrence from her – lucky me – eh?!), I had this little card I had made a while back when I was practicing water color painting where I had laid out some fruit and mint leaves and tried to create it.  I was goofing around with making it a (not sure of the term?) combination of words and “art.”  (Anybody know the technical name for this or is there even such a thing?)  Need to work on my handwriting, but thought it was fun… or maybe I ruined it??

Nonetheless, I used this, along with a little batch of my Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies as a way to thank my friend and co-worker.  (Thank you Judy!!)

And while we are talking about the wonderful fruits of summer and berries, it brought to mind a favorite recipe I used to make and demonstrate from Pampered Chef years ago when I was a “Pampered Chef Lady” that I thought I’d share with you here today.  Only, I kicked it up a notch by adding fresh red raspberries too!  I’ve got to make this again soon!

Berry Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

Photo courtesy of myreciperoundup.blogspot.com

Ingredients:
2 Medium Granny Smith Apples, chopped
1 Cup Strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 Kiwi, peeled and chopped
1 Cup Red Raspberries
1 Medium Orange, juiced and zested
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Apple Jelly
4 Large Tortillas
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:

Gently mix together first seven ingredients in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.  Brush tortillas with water using a pastry brush.  Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over tortillas.  Cut each tortilla into eight wedges, and place on a baking stone (or cookie sheet).  Bake 5-7 minutes until golden brown and crisp.  Remove to cooling rack, then place in a bowl or basket alongside the salsa, and ENJOY!

Recipe from The Pampered Chef (modified)

Cheers & Hugs & Thank You BERRY Much for Visiting LifeinBetween.me,
Jodi

Mellow Yellow & Puppy Love

/ Jodi / 37 Comments

yellow flower watercolor card

Here’s a little yellow flower watercolor I recently did with no particular flower in mind – just goofing around really.  Feeling kind of “mellow” when I did it (which I’ve come to think is a good way to feel when water color painting). I think I like how it turned out.

I am using it as a thank you card for a very sweet lady (Hubby’s boss’s wife), who sent home the loveliest gift basket yesterday to welcome our new little guy, Charlie, who you may recall briefly “meeting” in yesterday’s post.

As those of you that know me or have been following for a while know, we lost our dear sweet Mikey almost three months ago…  Not a day has gone by that I haven’t missed him or thought about him.  Mikey was such a special little guy, and our hearts and our house has had a big empty hole in it since he left us.

Hubby has been following posts from petfinder, and animal friends, and all the local shelters for the past month or so in pursuit of a new furry friend to rescue and fill the void in our home.

This past weekend, he showed me a picture of a little guy, who we have come to name Charlie (or Chuck for short), who we drove close to two hours to meet, and who we feel in love with almost instantly.

Charlie got his name from the fact that his nervous tummy had him “up-chucking” three times on the ride home from the animal shelter to Mars.   He is a bit of a nervous Norman – quite likely he was not treated well by his previous owner.

Word is he was dropped off at the shelter with his buddy – another dog – about three weeks ago.  His best bud was adopted a couple days before him, and Charlie (Kota as he was named by the shelter) was deeply depressed.   When we signed the papers and got ready to head home, one of the volunteers told us we rescued him just in time as he was getting so sad.

We have no idea what his history is or what “breed” he is.  The best guess from the “experts” at the shelter is that he is approximately a year old (they determine this by looking at his teeth), and that he is part beagle and part Australian Sheep Dog…  We are guessing he has some retriever or lab in him – probably that and about 52 other varieties!

Charlie is growing more and more content and settled, and he is stealing our hearts quickly.

His first night, he slept in between hubby and me in bed.  Second night, he found his place on the couch in our room and slept peacefully all night.

He loves to chew on some old bones we had in a bucket from Mikey and is an avid fetch and retriever of a knotted rope Mikey didn’t want anything to do with.

I have been spending my hours scratching ears, rubbing tummy, walking the perimeter of our yard (and quickly accumulating steps on my FitBit!), and enjoying lots of doggie kisses in between everything else.

Our first BIG success came when Charlie “rang the bell” that we have hanging on the front door to let us know he “needed” to go outside on his third day at home.  What a fast learner!  I’m such a proud Momma!  🙂

How fortunate I am to be able to work from home and allow our little guy to acclimate to his new surroundings with the comfort of knowing I am here for him and he is safe and at home.

Here is Charlie “posing” in his Camo Bandana that came in his awesome gift basket.  He is 45 pounds of exuberance, nervousness, intelligence, and love.

Charlie in Camo

I guess that’s why they call it “puppy love!”

Cheers & Hugs & Puppy Kisses from Mars,
Jodi

Anchors, Knots, and Easy Faux Enamel Dots

/ Jodi / 32 Comments

PP256 Square Nautical Hope Anchors the Soul

This week’s Paper Player’s Challenge is to make a square card.

pp256

So I created this card for my design team inspiration card that I sent to a special guy who has just completed a very important milestone with lots of hope for continued health and happiness.  He is a guy full of hope to anchor his soul and one who embraces life more than anyone I know.

faux enamel dots

It was fun layering on designer series paper and gold netting, embossing, and knotting, and creating fun faux enamel dots.

faux enamel dot close up

They are so easy to make, and you can create so many fun shapes and colors and designs.  I simply cut some paper with my Stampinup Owl punch that has a variety of circle sizes and a heart, laid them on a piece of wax paper, and put a “dollop” squeeze of Stampinup’s Crystal Effects on to dry for several hours.  After they are dry, any excess can be snipped off with scissors, and you are left with beautiful little dots and button-type accents.   I’ve featured them here before also.

The sentiment is from Neat & Tangled.  I love this simple, inexpensive stamp that I have featured before (in fact about a year ago here).

Hope my cardmaking, creative, artistic friends will join us at The Paper Players Challenge #PP256 this week!  All “Hip to be Square” cards are warmly welcomed!

(And “Oh Rob” – hope you feel all the love I put into this card just for you! <3)

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Watercolor from the Beach

/ Jodi / 56 Comments

sea turtle watercolor card

It was fun to do a little dabbling in watercolor painting while at the beach last week.  And it was hard to think of anything besides the beach to paint while there!

One of the highlights of our little trip, however, was seeing a nest of endangered sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean.  72 hatched from the nest of over 100 eggs, and only about 1 percent will make it to maturation.  There was a group of volunteers that guarded the nest and helped them make it to the ocean safely without being scooped up by the birds waiting nearby.  Chances are many will not make it in the sea as so many predators await, but those that do make it to maturity can live up to 80 years.  It is quite fascinating actually, and you can learn more about sea turtles here and here.

So one of my paintings is of a sea turtle making its way into the ocean.

sea gull watercolor card

Another is a very abstract sand, sea, air  painting with a sea gull silhouette flying.

ocean sail boat watercolor card

And the other is just a simple seascape and sky with a sailboat.

I made these three little paintings into note cards to send to my three chicas to thank them for a great GFC week.

Hope you have a great day wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Oh Happy Day with Sprinkled Donuts

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

PP255 Starburst Sayings and Cherry on Top DSP

Could you go for a donut with sprinkles on top right about now?

Wouldn’t that make for A Happy Day!?

It’s Sunday, so time for me to share a design inspiration for this week’s Paper Players Challenge:  PP255.  This week is a sketch challenge, so we get to use anything we want to create something that resembles this sketch.

pp255

I think this Stampin’Up Cherry On Top Designer Series Paper featuring the sprinkled donuts is so cute and cheerful, and I love the “Oh Happy Day Stamp, so I made this card, adding a little gold bling by making the “tag” from punchinella.  Punchinella is the sheet that is left over after making sequins.  Did you know that?  How clever is that for someone to market and SELL!?!?  And isn’t it just that extra little pop that makes this card?

PP255 Starburst Sayings and Cherry on Top DSP 2

I used some foam tape to make the Oh Happy Day Starburst Sentiment pop up off the card a bit for even more dimension, and used scissors on the bakers twine to make it curl a bit.

PP255 Starburst Sayings and Cherry on Top DSP 3

Here is what I used to make the card.

Card Ingredients:

Hope you have an “Oh Happy Day!”

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Don’t play with your vegetables

/ Jodi / 26 Comments

vegetable card radishes

Remember being told to not play with your vegetables as a child at the dinner table?

I’m still playing with my veggies – watercolor painting these days – just for kicks.

Aren’t the radishes radishing?!

Certainly not some of my finest art work, but fun nonetheless.

vegetable card green onions

I had some scraps of paper and the urge to continue after recently painting my Lazuli Bunting, but was obviously getting a bit tired and punchy by the time I got to the green onions and carrots.

vegetable card carrots

Maybe I should stick to cooking and eating my veggies.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Watercolor Lazuli Bunting

/ Jodi / 18 Comments

lazuli bunting

I am a bit obsessed with watercolor lately…

My youngest son told my oldest son last week when he was over – “Paint, paint, paint – not so many cookies being baked around here – Mom’s too busy painting!”

Of course they were teasing – like they constantly do to me…  (I’ve come to realize it is their way of expressing their love – at least that is what I’ve convinced myself of to maintain sanity!)

But – I do become a bit obsessed with things… (and I am on vacation this week, so scheduled a few posts ahead)

So – when I recently posted my Papa Cardinal watercolor, a sweet blogger friend, Deborah @ CircadianReflections commented how lovely it was and how she wished cardinals were in her area of the world.

I asked Deborah what her favorite was.

When she commented it was a Lazuli Bunting….
I had no idea.
So I Googled,
and I feel in love with this precious little blue bird.

So here is my interpretation of this beautiful little bird that graces the West Coast of the United States…
but not Mars.

Hope it does a teensy bit of justice to this glorious creature.
Thanks for sharing with me Deborah!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi