Wink of Stella

Celebrate Today

/ Jodi / 25 Comments

PP238 CYCI64
It’s Friday!  Reason enough to celebrate – eh?

PP238 CYCI64 2

The card I am sharing today, however, is in celebration of a special couple’s anniversary:  my Dad and “Mom II” Carole.

It is such a joy to celebrate their happiness.  They are such great role models of a truly caring, loving married relationship.

Though my biological parents divorced when I was young,  I am happy for both of them that they have found loving, lasting marriages on Round 2.

(And for those of you that weren’t around when I was a new blogger close to a year ago,  I’d love to share one of my favorite posts with you from back in July of last year to read the story of my reunion with my Dad.)

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So Dad and Carole, I join you in celebrating your upcoming special day.  I thank you for your love and example.  And most of all, I love you dearly.  Celebrate YOU!

For my cardmaking friends, I am submitting this card for two of my favorite card challenges:  The Paper Players, which is hosting a Die Cut Challenge this week, and Can You Case It, which is hosting a color challenge this week.

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And here are the “Ingredients” for my card:

StampinUp’s Crazy About You Stamp Set for the flowers and leaves
StampinUp’s Perfectly Penned Stamp Set for the sentiment
Lil’ Inker Designs Stitched Mat Rectangles for the Die Cut stitches and cut out rectangles
SU Whisper White, Black, and Crisp Cantaloupe Card Stock
Inks:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistsachio Pudding, Memento Black
Boho Blossoms Punch
Wink of Stella Clear Brush
SU Pearl Embellishments
Old Olive StampinWrite Marker for leaf veins
Adhesive

Celebrate today and EVERY day – at Life in Between.

Cheers & Happy Friday Hugs,
Jodi

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

Happy Boss’ Day & a Color Challenge

/ Jodi / 24 Comments

pp217 jlm

Tomorrow, October 16, 2014, is National Boss’ Day.  (For those of you that forgot, aren’t ready, didn’t know – I thought I’d post a day ahead!)  🙂

I am one of the fortunate ones that works for a great company and has a wonderful boss, so I enjoy letting him know that I appreciate his kindness, fairness, support, and leadership.  I feel privileged to work for the company I do and in the field I do.  It is an honor to wake up every day and know that what we are doing in hospice and home health is making a difference in people’s lives.  We are helping people LIVE when they are facing the last leg of their journey.  We are providing dignity and quality of life.  We are helping families cope, understand, and support their loved ones.  I am truly grateful for the opportunity to do what I do and the boss that allows me to do it every day.

My boss is a man, so no “froo-froo, fussy-fuss” card for this occasion, but I thought I could use The Paper Players Color Challenge (PP217) to make a nice Fall gratitude card to honor my boss and the day.

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For my stamping friends, I heat embossed the leaves with white on SU Whisper White card stock.  I then sponged on the SU Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, and Mossy Meadow inks (in that order) and hit the edges with some brown distress ink to create a better edge.  I glued on a white border and then Mossy Meadow card stock base, heat embossed the SU Grateful for You sentiment on Mossy Meadow, hand cut and attached with dimensionals.  I finished it off with just a couple sequins, and though you cannot really see in the photo, I hit the leaves with a coat of Wink of Stella to give it a subtle sparkle in just the right light.  On the inside, I randomly stamped the maple leaf with the same three colors.

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So here’s to National Boss’ Day.  A great excuse for me to make a card!  🙂

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Aint it Good to Know You’ve Got a Friend!

/ Jodi / 8 Comments

MOJO359 2
Happy Friday!

Today I am sharing a card I designed for the Sketch Challenge #359 at Mojo Monday (MOJO359).

This card was totally inspired by one I saw done by Mojo Monday’s Julee Tillman.

Mojo359SketchHere is the sketch we were challenged to design from.

For my card, I started with some Navy and White SU DSP, embossed a “friendly” sentiment on vellum with gold embossing powder, colored a flower from SU Bloom with Hope with alcohol markers, then fussy cut and embellished with #WinkofStella and glued and stitched it all together for this fun friend card.

MOJO359 closeup

If you have a few moments, enjoy one of my all-time favorite versions of one of my all-time favorite songs 🙂

Friends make the world a better place.

Aint it good to know you’ve got a friend?

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Birthdays are for the Birds

/ Jodi / 21 Comments

child birthday card punch art birds on wire

Birthdays were so much fun when we were kids – right?

And even more when my boys were young and we could do (what they eventually came to dread….)

THEME parties!

I recall parties themed with pirates and magic shows, and Barney the purple dinosaur………

jake 5 cake jake 5 pirates 2 jake 5 pirates

Oh the days….  (I can’t believe these were over 20 years ago now!)

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So I was excited to see The Paper Players Challenge #209 this week be a child’s birthday card.  Gave me a chance to be silly and fun.

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Leanne Pugliese, of The Paper Players Design Team, is celebrating her granddaughter, Cassidy’s, 4th Birthday this week (Happy Birthday Cassidy!), so she chose a Clean and Simple (CAS) Child’s Birthday Card for #PP209 Challenge.

child birthday card punch art birds on wire
My card is a “punch art” card.  I’ve seen some amazingly creative critters created out of punched out shapes.  They range from puppies and turtles and hippos, lions, elephants, and monkeys to caterprillars and lambs and bears and birds – silly birds, angry birds, real birds.  There are some awesomely talented artists and designers out there!

I saw little birds similar to these somewhere at some point and thought they would make a fun child’s birthday card – especially for a “wee one.”  My “birds” are cut out using SU framelit circles and the bird builder punch for the wing and nose.  I sponged them with some pumpkin pie ink, glitzed their feathers a bit with #WinkofStella, cut out party hats from SU DSP, added some Crystal Effects to their beaks, and popped on a candy dot for the eye.  The background is done with a cloud embossing folder, the “telephone wire” is made from baker’s twine, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Bloom with Hope stamp set.

I can’t wait to share this card with a wee one on their birthday.  As for me – no more birthdays please…  Birthdays are for the birds!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

Hello Friday!

/ Jodi / 6 Comments

Stampinup By the Tide
Hello there Friday!   Friday is always my day to share a card I made this week, since it is #FreebieFriday for my WheretheRubberHitstheRoad gang.

(and is it just my screen or does the seashell look 3D to you?  Like it is floating off the page?  I think it is so cool how it looks in this shot, though there was not a good shot that I feel captures the essence of this card because it has so many elements of glitter and dimension and wet droplets, but hard to get in one shot – though it could be this amateur photographer’s lack of ability too!)  🙂

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Anyway, I had so much fun making this card.  I was inspired by a Stamping “Challenge” on JustAddInk’s Website (Challenge #223) when I designed this card, but alas, I was TOO LATE!  The deadline was in Australian Eastern Standard Time AEST – 14 hours AHEAD of us back in little ole’ Mars, PA USA!)  Oh Jodi!!!

I still love the card and can’t wait to share it with someone special to hopefully brighten their day.

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Stampinup Products Used:
By the Tide Stamp Set
Lost Lagoon, Whisper White and Night of Navy Card Stock
Lost Lagoon, Pacific Point, Pool Party and Stazon Black Inks
Bubble Circle Embossing Folder
Circle Framelit Dies
Crystal Effects for water bubbles
Alcohol Markers for coloring
Wink of Stella Brush for Glittering
Sentiment:  Jillibean Handwritten Sentiments

Happy Weekend!  We are off to some fun picnics and parties and wedding celebrations!  (I’m getting a new sis-in-law Saturday and celebrating a special day with my brother, Jeff and family!!) 🙂

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Stampin’ Grateful!

/ Jodi / 12 Comments

stop and go neat and tangled

As some of you know, my Marty is a “Traffic Guy.”  He has also been the light of my life for 32+ years.  After putting up with me hosting Girlfriend Camp #GFC2014 this past weekend, I thought he deserved a little “appreciation.”  After all, he did “get out of Dodge” all day Saturday, but was our hero Sunday morning preparing us a breakfast fit for…  well…. the princesses we are! 🙂

Yippee Skippee I Freakin Love You and Chalk lines hearts

I freakin’ love him – for so many reasons.  So when I was in a crafty mood and found a card stamping challenge at Muse (Muse Challenge #77), I strangely thought this matched the challenge criteria.  I used a fun stamp set from #NeatandTangled called Stop and Go, #Stampinup Yippee Skippee and Chalk Lines stamp sets, DSP, card stock and ink, and a vintage Stampinup sentiment stamp from 2002.  My interpretation of the challenge card was in the design of a single object with a single sentiment and a simply framed layout.

Wink of Stella on Traffic Light Stop and Go Neat and Tangled

What I really love about this card, and the pictures just don’t do justice is the “Wink of Stella” Brush I used to glitz up the traffic lights.  Saw #JenniferMcGuire demonstrate it and am not sure if I like it more because it has the name “Stella” in it (my Grandma’s name) or the fun way it adds shimmer with NO glitter mess!

Anway – mailed this to Marty at work to let him know how much he rocks my world.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi