Crafting

Discovering Dots

/ Jodi / 23 Comments

SUO 114 Dots Big Day

Sharing a fun little card today that I was inspired to make from the SUO Challenge (#114) to make a card with dots.

Who doesn’t love some fun polka dots?!

This was my second “go” at making a dot card for the challenge.  I made the one you will see below first, and I like it, but not sure I LOVE it.  You’ll have to let me know…  I so struggle with “simplicity” and “clean and simple” designs that I so admire others do!

But I do kinda love this one.  It screams happy and celebrate and big day to me!

And…. it’s covered with DOTS!  I sponged some on the background white piece using the Stampin Up (SU) circle background stencil with Real Red, Tangelo Twist, and Crushed Curry [ red, orange, and yellow in “layman” terms 🙂 ].

The sentiment from SU’s “Big Day” stamp set has some more dots on it, and then I added matching colored candy dots as an additional embellishment.

The silver metal buttons – a smaller one stacked on top of a larger one and held together with some red and white striped baker’s twine add just a few more dots.

I first had it laid out all lined up and symmetrical, but I thought it gave it some more interest and whimsy by offsetting the the angles of the layers a bit.

Here is the inside…

SUO 114 Dots Big Day inside

where I snuck one more orange candy dot in!  🙂

I added some Wink of Stella over top of the colored words on the front, but it is so hard to capture in a photo.  Under the right light or with just a slight twist or movement, it sparkles with delight though!

SUO 114 Dots Big Day Close up

Here is the first one I made that I mentioned above.

This one was made with the Stampin Up Cheerful Critters Stamp Set.  (They are so stinking cute – there are three that I’m sure I’ll feature in future posts.)

SUO 114 Dots Cheerful Critters

Again, it is hard to see, but after coloring the little critter’s polka dot “shirt,” I hit it with my Wink of Stella pen for a bit of glitz and glitter, and I also love the softness and plushness of the Blackberry Bliss thin velvet ribbon trim contrasting with the cool metal button.

closeup of SUO 114

Can you tell I was dying to use those metal buttons this week?  I really like them and the contrast they give.  It’s all in the little details kids!  🙂

Wishing you a Big and Happy Day discovering things you love.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

It’s a “Back to” Kinda Day…

/ Jodi / 24 Comments

PP226 Birthday Butterfly Basics

I gotta say, it was a great “back to” kinda day yesterday …
Back to work…
Back to the gym…
Back to the craft room in the evening… and back to The Paper Players Challenge!!
Felt so good!

I need a birthday card for a special friend, so I was excited to use the Stampin Up Butterfly Basics Stamp Set and Framelit to make it.

Butterflies remind me of renewal and hope and change and that speaks January birthday to me and also this special lady.

The Paper Players first challenge of the new year #226 is “Everything Old is New Again – create a project using a recycle or re-purposed item.  This challenge is right up my alley and just the right challenge to get me back in the stampin’ groove!

PP226

For my card, the recycled/re-purposed items are craft paper packing material from my endless Amazon Prime Christmas gift shopping packages and a touch of  burlap ribbon from my dear daughter-in-law, Colleen’s wedding shower (we both love burlap!)  🙂

PP226 Birthday Butterfly Basics

I loved creating a rustic, but fresh and renewed look with the recycled/re-purposed materials and a bright butterfly.  And I adore the ferns that are in this stamp set and how great they work for the stamping-off technique to get a variety of shades.

PP226 Birthday Butterfly Basics Inside
I only used three colors of ink for this card – SU Mossy Meadow for the ferns, Stazon Black for the sentiments and a bit of Ranger Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink for the vintagy edges.

Hope you are getting “back to” your groove after the holidays and seeking cherished moments at lifeinbetween and always.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

P.S.  For my stamping friends, if you haven’t seen Deb Valder’s Youtube technique tutorial on dryer sheets for thinlits, I urge you to check it out.  Possibly life-changing for these challenging die cuts! 🙂

Brown Paper Packages tied up with String

/ Jodi / 24 Comments

…these are a few of my favorite things…

christmas brown paper packages tied up with string

I kept my wrapping simple this year – brown paper packages tied up with string…

and plenty of gift bags, which saved a lot of time!

I like to have lots of packages to give even if it is just something small or the traditional socks and boxers 🙂

And I would like to put the gifts under the tree, but little Mr. Mikey cannot be trusted these days – especially if I leave him alone in the house for any length of time (he already ate half of a Yankee peppermint-scented candle that was in a zippered gift pouch in a pile to be wrapped in my home office…. Seriously – a dog who likes peppermint!?!!?  And can unzipper a cloth bag to get to it!)

So the gifts are all stacked in my office, and the office door remains CLOSED!

christmas brown paper packages and bags

One year Mikey ate an entire pound of Chocolate Peanut Butter Meltaways that was in a box wrapped in cellophane and then gift wrapped and was in the middle of a pile of gifts under the tree.  No other boxes were disrupted somehow, but the entire box of candy was G-O-N-E!  And though chocolate is supposed to be “poison” to dogs, Mike had a bit of a tummy ache and slugged around for a few hours, but was no worse for wear.  Oh Mikey!

Anyway – the package is half the fun.  Right?

Well – I ran out of bags and had some special little gifts left to wrap that are odd shaped, so I found this cute little easy-to-make gift bag on Pootles Papercraft’s YouTube channel.

festival orf trees christmas gift bags

Sam does great tutorials on all kinds of little gift bags and boxes if you want to check her out.  And her accent is so fun to listen to also!  I used StampinUp’s Holiday Craft Paper (Under the Tree DSP), the Festival of Trees Stamp and Punch, and a bit of jute string to tie it closed.

Hope you are enjoying doing some of YOUR “favorite things!”

“The Sound of Music” was my Mother-in-Law’s favorite movie of all. Remembering her fondly, and thankful for the best gift she ever game me – her son – my Merv. ❤

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

a little dash of Merry

/ Jodi / 10 Comments

little dash of merry

A little dash of merry on this Friday before Christmas!

(This card was made using StampinUp’s Endless Wishes Stamp Set inked in white on Night of Navy card stock and simply embellished with pearls.)

Cheers & Merry Hugs,
Jodi

Coffee Bean Christmas Tree

/ Jodi / 15 Comments

Do you have a coffee lover on your holiday gift list?

I do, so I was excited to try this idea for a simple homemade gift.  It’s a coffee bean tree!  What do you think?

coffee bean christmas tree

styrofoam coneI started with a 12″ Styrofoam cone and painted it with brown acrylic paint.

Once dry, I adhered the coffee beans with hot glue, then decorated with a few red berries and a festive bow.

(When gluing the beans on, I laid the cone down horizontally on a large paper plate, applied an area of hot glue, and poured a handful of beans on, pressing lightly.  Once the whole side was covered, I rotated the cone and repeated.  The loose beans fall off onto the paper plate, and you can redistribute.  For the 12 inch cone, I used about 2/3 of a 1 l lb. bag of beans.)

To finish it off, I glued a brown felt circle to the bottom.

Not only does it look pretty and festive, it smells wonderful too!  I used a dark Colombian roast, but you could do a hazelnut or french vanilla or any other flavor/scent you like.

You might even like to make one for yourself.   It’s a great little kitchen Christmas tree.

I love how it turned out, and I think my coffee-lover liked it too!  🙂

Cheers & Latte Hugs,

Jodi

 

Sparkle & Glitter!! Napkin Cards

/ Jodi / 30 Comments

napkin glitter card ho ho ho

I went a little nuts last night with glitter and napkins!

napkin glitter card gold and blue dove and ornaments

When I first started seeing these glitter napkin cards, I poo-poo’d them thinking cards made of napkins take no talent, no effort, no creativity……

Then I went to a class where we made one recently.  I almost didn’t go, because I didn’t want to make cards from napkins – being a bit of a snob about it I must admit…..

napkin glitter card snowman and snowflakeWell – now I am eating my words, because I had so much fun making these cards!  It’s okay if something is a little easier, a little less creative sometimes….

napkin glitter card merry christmas wreathas long as you enjoy it… and I’m actually kind of excited with how these turned out!  All made from paper napkins!

napkin glitter card joyI am excited to share this simple, but beautiful technique, because I think many of you might enjoy trying this method to making homemade cards that doesn’t require a lot of equipment and materials.  And if you like do a “production-line” style of getting a bunch of the same thing done at once, one pack a napkins can make a ton of beautiful cards.  In fact, each individual napkin makes four cards!

napkin glitter card suppliesBesides some card stock and some pretty napkins you can get at the dollar store or craft store or wherever you might find paper products, the only other things you need are a VersaMark stamp pad, some type of adhesive tape, Heat & Stick Powder, and glitter (I used Stampin Up’s “Dazzling Diamonds” Dahling) :).

There is a great video tutorial on Youtube done by a Stampin’ Up Demonstrator from Canada, Tina Weller that you may want to watch if you are interested in learning how to do this:

Tina talks about using a specific type of Stampin’ Up adhesive sheets, but I just used double faced tape and/or the glue tape runner you can find at any craft or drug or variety stores and completely covered  some white card stock with it to adhere the napkin.

napkin glitter card santa and sleigh

I made all of these cards last night, and I pretty much love all of them!  🙂

If you haven’t bought, made, sent your holiday greeting cards, you may just want to try this fun and easy technique.

And if you are interested in purchasing any Stampin’Up products, just let me know, and I can hook you up. 🙂 

And I think I am going to enter the snowman/snowflake card as another entry into  The Paper Players PP224 Tic Tac Toe Challenge for White, Snowflake, & Glitter.

napkin glitter card snowman and snowflake

Have a sparkly, glitterly, dazzling day!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Welcome

/ Jodi / 2 Comments

https://i0.wp.com/cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0251/1351/files/Welcome_large.jpg

I’ve been blogging a little over six months now here at lifeinbetween.me, and I can’t believe how much I am enjoying it and how much I am learning…

about blogging, writing, technology, but most of all about MYSELF!

I thought it high time I build a Welcome (Home) Page for those that may visit and wonder what this is all about here.

It was fun pulling photos and linking them with the posts that I thought summed up my blog and my lifeinbetween.

Check it out HERE, and let me know if you think I hit the highlights or if I missed something important or should do something different. I did it very late at night and kept falling asleep in the middle of working on it!  🙂

I would LOVE your feedback, comments, questions, whatever you’d like to say or share –  as I grow on this journey of blogging and the never-ending journey of self-discovery.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

White Christmas Shaker Card

/ Jodi / 14 Comments

White Christmas Shaker Card

It’s the day after Thanksgiving…

What a wonderful day we had sharing with family and friends.  I hope all of you that celebrated did also.  We are STUFFED to the gills with turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie, and we have lots of leftovers to continue the feast for at least a few more days.  I hope to share some more about that later, but for now I wanted to share another Christmas card I made, since we are now in full fledged Christmas season!

I made this SU White Christmas Shaker card after Linda Heller from Where the Rubber Hits the Road was kind enough to send me some SU shaker frames (from our #FreebieFriday random drawing contest).  For this card, I cut and pieced two of them together to create a larger shaker to contain this scene that is reminiscent of this time of year – getting the annual Christmas tree.  I stamped it all in Memento Black Ink and then colored in with SU Stampin’ Write Markers.  I filled it with some sequins, wrapped it with SU DSP and sponged the edges to vintage it up a bit.  Finishing touches were a linen thread bow and brown metal brad.

The SUO Challenge SUO#110 this week is “Marker Fun,” and this one was fun with markers, so I am sharing there.

I know just who this card is going to, and I hope they have as much fun shakin’ it as I did coloring it!

White Christmas Shaker Card

Cheers & Thankful Holiday Hugs,

Jodi

 

Get Your Santa On

/ Jodi / 13 Comments

IMG_1349On Saturday, I got my Santa on!   On Christmas cards that is…      We had a JOLLY ole’ time with Head Elf Cindy (of CindyLeeBeeDesigns).  What a sweet, generous, and talented elf she is!

IMG_1345

And check out her great stampin’ studio!  If you are in the Pittsburgh, PA area, Cindy holds classes at her studio in Pittsburgh Mills Shopping Mall.  You can create some cards, go shop, eat, catch a movie – all in one stop.

IMG_1350

Feel free to visit her website here or see the info on her storefront sign below.

IMG_1342

We whipped up all of these cute cards in two hours – and all with one stamp set from Stampin Up called Get Your Santa On!

IMG_1351

These were my fellow classmates elves sharing our creations.

IMG_1337So – Yippee – four more Christmas cards done!

IMG_1352

We stamped and chatted and embossed and chatted and drank coffee and chatted.

IMG_1322

We cut and punched (and chatted).

IMG_1319

We colored (and chatted).

IMG_1324

We learned new elf tricks from our head elf instructor.

IMG_1321

And we got this cutest ever favor!!  (Made with the SU Curvy Keepsake Box Die cut)  Oh Cindy – you might even rank higher in my book than Hermie the elf now!  And that is really saying something!

IMG_1353

Thanks for a great time, Cindy.

Thanks for chauffeuring Stacey (of StudioDesigners).  Be sure to check out her site too.  Stacey is uber talented and creative and also hosts wonderful classes in Cranberry Township, PA.

Great fun with all of you ladies!

Now – go get YOUR Santa on!  Christmas is only 52 days away!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

A Happy Birthday Money Cake!

/ Jodi / 244 Comments

money birthday cake Jake 27

Monday is my son, Jake’s 27th birthday.

First of all – how did that happen?  Where did the time go?!  I feel like I’m still 27, so how could my “child” be 27?

Anyway – when trying to decide what to get Jake for his birthday, we thought money was what he would appreciate most.

But I hate just writing a check or enclosing money in a card.

I need to be a bit more creative and personal than that.

So here is what I made for Jake.  A birthday money cake!

I think this is a cake even pie lovers would like – right?!

money cake Jake 27

It really was quite simple to make.

The layers are stryofoam discs with rolled dollar bills pinned to them.

I then made a “bow” from a $20, a $5, and two $1 bills to represent 27 years.  The layers are covered with 100 $1 bills.

money cake making

I used an 8″ piece for the bottom “layer,” then two 6″ ones glued together (they were not as high as the others, and I wanted to create more height), and the top is a 4″ piece.

I finished it off with some ribbon and poked 27 candles in too.

money birthday cake Jake 27

So – is Jake going to love it or is he going to want to shoot me for making him work so hard to take it apart to get his money???

I’m guessing the latter, but that makes me smile.  🙂

And I think Colleen will get a kick out of it.

Yep – these are the things I do at

life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi