A Girl, Faith and A Bird

Good day!!! I'm happy to be back. Sorry it took me so long. I have a sick little girl. No fun having a young one with a runny nose and the whole deal :(

However, this little girl of mine is a warrior at heart *this is where part of the title for todays post comes in* In the midst of her apparent discomfort she still carries a smile. Just yesterday I was getting ready to serve lunch and as we said grace I asked Jesus to make her feel better and she said with a great smile (still with droopy eyes) "momma, Jesus healed me"!!! I simply smiled.

Later that night I was tucking her in and I prayed with her. When I asked Jesus *again* to please help Moriah feel better she interrupted me and said, "mom, He already made me feel better, remember"?

Children have such simple and lovely faith. I sure gleaned quite a bit from this experience. Often times I hinder the goodness of God. I find myself asking and patiently waiting for some good and often times it doesn't come because we (I) lack faith, belief that He will, can and wants to do it.

Just some food for thought :)

Now for something artsy. This is the *Bird* in my title. I bought a stamp set a week ago. It's the Birdy Trio Bitsy from Basic Grey. It is such a fun stamp set. I've made a few cards using it. However, this is the only card I have a pic of.

To create it I simply stamped my bird onto pattern paper and cut out. For the wing I used different pp. I then chose the same pp to embellish my card. To balance the design I added faux stitching and a circle with a button. A very neat design with some tweaking it can became a very cool one :)

Hope your Saturday is full of blessings. Do stop and smell the roses :)

Hugs,

Jessica

:{Embellish}: Color Challenge

Hello girlie, girls!!! Just wanted to stop quickly and share a couple of cards I made for the current Embellish Magazine Color Challenge. If you haven't given this a try I highly recommend you do so. Make sure you stop by their blog because there's a lot of inspiration and an awesome giveaway.

I have so fallen in love with these colors. I've been in a mood for purple since late summer and can't get over it. If it weren't for this challenge I would have never thought of pairing it with kraft and brown. So thanks girls ;) This is my second try at this challenge and love it. To view my first try you can go here.

The cards I created are simple. To create my striped pattern paper I took three color pencils and with a ruler drew stripes. I then punched out circle to create my little trendy tree. I adhered a heart covered in liquid emboss glossy finish (sorry for the bad pic quality).

With my leftover circles I created this second card. I really like the striped circles the best :)

Hope your week had an awesome jump start. As for me I'm still at the retreat. Learning lots and enjoying great fellowship :)

*Remember to keep checking in because any day now I'll be posting my giveaway*

Thanks for stopping.

Blessings,

Jessica

Start To Finish Challenge

Cath over at Moxie Fab World has been hosting yet another challenge- The Start To Finish challenge. This one in particular involves a little more creativity. Not only do you need to create a pretty card in the outside but you have to decorate the inside as well. So this challenge is a double ;) The creations she posted to get our creative juices flowing are simply too scrumptious for words. So I highly encourage you to go check it out.

My card has a color scheme that was inspired by this weeks Tuesday Trigger.

To create it I used a 6" x 4" card base then I used a 4 1/4" square cut in half to create the triangle. The roof was decorated using 1" circles (cut in half) For this size card it too 20 circle punch outs. After adhering and distressing each one I trimmed the edges and cut out the door and window. I added some faux stitching for extra detail and a trim around the door. I lightly distressed all the edges for some depth and definition.

The inside was a lot simpler. I stamped the owl and cut out the wings and used some pop up tape. I also used my liquid emboss for the eyes. It makes them look so glossy and full of life, sort of ;)

Here's a closer look at the owl so you can see the eyes.

I distressed the edges and stamped a subtle background. I finished off with my sentiments and some more faux stitches to balance my design.

Have a super day!!

Blessings,

Jessica

Tuesday Trigger

Hello everyone!!! First of all thanks for all your warm birthday wishes. You gals are the best :)

I’ve been meaning to post this a lot sooner but didn’t realize I had a retreat to go to :) Anyhow I hope your weekend has been good. Mine has been pretty hectic with preparations. It’s amazing how much time it can take to get a family of *only* three packed for a 4 day trip.

Amidst the chaos I wanted to stop and share quickly my take on this weeks trigger :) Tina submitted a lovely image. Don’t you just love it?! You have till tomorrow to give this a try. You can visit Cath, over at Moxie Fab World for details.

Now for my take on this challenge. What triggered my creativity was the colors and the homey appeal.

For this card I cut and scored my card to measure 4’ 1/4” and stamped a very subtle background for detail. I cut out a square in kraft and used my tracing wheel to create some faux stitches and distressed a bit using white ink. I mounted my squares and set aside. Then for the *boxed* 3-D house I stamped the little house using my versa color I cut out the image and using my craft knife I cut out the window.

What I love about this little house is the detail inside it. You can see them (a little) in this image.

I also stamped the inside and distressed a bit.

Tomorrow as well is the deadline for Start to Finish Moxie Fab World Challenge. So go check it out even if you don't get to submit you'll fall in love with the concept :)

Thanks for visiting and also for all your warm birthday wishes. You girls are awesome. I’ll be back soon with more cards and updates on my giveaway :)

Blessings,

Jessica

A Celebration!!

Good Day!!! I can't believe it's already Wednesday. How's your week going so far? Mine has been great. I never mentioned it but this week was my birthday. I turned the *BIG* 30 and you know it's great to be able to say that I feel good in my skin.

I am so grateful to God for all He's given me. I wouldn't change a thing (maybe a few). Life comes to us and we have the ability to shape it. Lessons gained is wisdom that will forever remain. So why not embrace it :)

I didn't do anything special but one thing was great. My husband practically gave me his wallet (sort of speak) and told me to go to the craft store and get whatever I want. What a better way to celebrate than to go shopping for stamps :) So I'm still on a mission to redeem my *voucher* and get me some goodies.

Now for the card. I really like this little cupcake card. It is (should I say this) so simple. I love the colors and the cupcake. I'm still debating whether I should add glitter or something to the heart for texture. We'll see I might leave it just the way it is.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,

Jessica

Materials:

Cardstock: Martha Stewarts's, Paper Zone apple shimmer

Stamps: G studio

Ink: Palette Noir

Other: Crayola color pencils, corner rounder, 1" circle punch

:{Embellish}: Color Challenge

Yay, it's time for another awesome challenge!! This time we are creating with stripes. Stripes can sound boring until you take a peak at the scrumptious images (and pattern paper) that Embellish Magazine has so graciously provided for us and if that's not enough to get your creativity flowing wait till you see what the design team has come up with :)

Aren't these just gorgeous (colors and all)?!?

Okay. Now for my take on this challenge. The moment I saw the images I knew I wanted the stripes to be the focal point of my card. If you are acquainted at all with my style then you'll know that this for me was a difficult task because I am not used to creating with pattern paper. I shy away from adding *too* much embellishments to my cards, not because I don't like it but because it is not my forte. With all that being said here's my take on this challenge.

To create my pattern paper I used Faux Ribbon stamp set (Papertrey Ink). Then I stamped the image and sentiment (I used a pop up foam for the image). To finish it off I added a rhinestone and a scalloped border to balance all the edges.

I think over all it was a fun challenge. I hope you were inspired to create something for someone today :)

Blessings,

Jessica

Materials:

Cardstock: Coffee bean (Martha Stewart), Kraft (PTI)

Stamps: PTI's Faux Ribbon, American Craft Majestic, Hampton Art Studio G (sentiment)

Ink: Versa Color boysenberry, Palette burnt umber, PTI's vintage cream

Other: rhinestone Studio 18, EK Success small scalloped border punch

Moxie Fab World Challenge(s)

Have you read of the new column in Paper Crafts Magazine?? I think it's new look and columns are just totally fab :)

They are having a new challenge: Color Play and it will be hosted by Paper Crafts Magazine editor, Susan R. Opel. We'll be able to participate over at Moxie Fab World.

Here's this months Color Combo. When I first saw them I was like, how are you supposed to create something with that?!? Anyway, that's why it's called a challenge, right?

As usual by the time I was done with my creation I was in love with the colors. I would have never guessed these tones would work so beautifully together (I have to try them myself before coming to this conclusion not even the lovely samples Cath provided for us by some amazing designers was enough).

So without any further ado I introduce you to my extremely challenging card ;)

I had to hold the card so you could see the tiny heart that's inside the card. The image below shows the little piece of heart peaking through the window.

And this final image shows the inside of the card. I thought I'd tackle two challenges in one. Cath, over at Moxie Fab World is hosting yet another challenge. Start to Finish is a challenge where you have to create a card that is embellished on the outside as well as on the inside. For inspiration and details you can go here.

Thanks for visiting and hope you were inspired to create.

Blessings,

Jessica

Materials:

Cardstock: Bazzill Mystique, burnt sienna, PTI's summer sunrise, smokey purple

Stamps: PTI's mixed messages, quilter's sampler

Ink: Palette burnt sienna, PTI's vintage cream Ranger distress ink tea dye

Other: fine tip marker (faux stitches)

Tuesday Trigger

This week seems to be challenge week for me. I haven't participated in some of these for months. I have missed them greatly and because of the lack of challenges in my crafty time my designs have struggled greatly. In other words I depend on these to keep my creativity fresh and flowing.

This week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World is a lovely Winter Cabbage brought to us by Regina Mangum. Isn't it just stunning??

When I first saw it I thought what can you create with such strong colors and what should the occasion be? Well, here's what I came up with.

I created a Sympathy card. These are no fun to create and it wasn't what I was going for but when I had finished my design I couldn't think of anything else but sympathy. The colors are rich and my inspiration came from the hues of the cabbage and the layers. That's why I partially cut out flowers from my cardstock. I added the green leaves simply to add some life to the dark tones.

Thanks for visiting and don't forget you have till Monday night for this challenge.

I'll be posting my give away in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for that!!!

Blessings,

Jessica

Materials:

Cardstock: Eco white Paper Source, Deep Icy Indigo, PTI's Spring Moss

Stamps: PTI's mixed messages

Ink: Palette chartreuse, Adirondack lettuce, eggplant, Versa Color boysenberry, PTI's vintage cream

Other: craft knife, rhinestones

:{Embellish}: Color Challenge

Hope your week is and has been productive thus far. Mine has been busy. I like busy weeks because by the end of it I have this awesome sense of accomplishment that nothing can compare. However, with busy weeks comes little creative time and with so many awesome challenges out there one literally has to have a calendar not to miss them. So this one was a hurry, hurry, rush, rush!!!! I almost missed it. Did you girls get yours in? We have till today 11:59pm to submit our take of this lovely color challenge with hearts hosted by none other than the Embellish Magazine crew. I love there challenges. It's been a while since I've participated and boy how I've missed it.

If you've never participated in a challenge I encourage you to do so. Why? Because it'll take your creative abilities to the next level :)

Now here are the colors. Aren't they just fabulous? I'm not one to be found playing with red or black much but I must say I love the elegance it adds to any card.

Now for my take on this challenge. The card I created is as usual simple. In my opinion simple is good as long as your comfortable with a minimalistic approach. You don't want your card to be too simple that it lacks *design*-that would not be good. Whether you like to create layered, all dressed up cards or simple designs the key is balance.

Here's a close up so you can see the thin strip of glittery goodness :) To create it I simply cut out a strip of red cardstock and added garnet glitter (Martha Stewart's). *The cardstock is pink- lighting has been awful and my color editing abilities... we won't go there ;)

That's it for now. Unfortunately I didn't meet the deadline for Dawn's color challenge :( But that's okay I'll just have to write these challenges on my calendar so I don't miss them :)

Hope you found something worthy of inspiration here today.

Blessings,

Jessica

Materials:

Cardstock: PTI's sweet blush, true black

Stamps: Stampology (background) stampin up sentiment

Ink: Palette L'Amore Red PTI's vintage cream

Other: tracing wheel (faux stitch), Martha Stewart's garnet extra fine glitter, heart brads

Two Things I'm Just Loving!!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!! I just wanted to stop quickly to share another card I created using a number. Lately I find myself creating cards that either have a number on it or liquid glass or both. I have fallen in love with numbers because it makes very simple designs and the sentiments you can come up with are countless and the liquid glass makes a simple stamp look so classy- adding detail without distracting the design :)

For this particular card I thought I'd use black for my base (that's always difficult for me). I love this card because of the overly distressed edges it give it a roughness that is suitable for the sentiment.

Okay. To create it I first cut out 2 pieces of light pink cardstock. In the smaller piece I stamped my background (hearts) then I distressed with my palette Noir. That piece I adhered to the remaining pink cardstock and that I adhered to my base card (black). Then to create a focal point I used the scalloped frame and on it I stamped the #4 and wrote the rest-the little heart is also a stamp and to it I added liquid glass for some texture.

Here's a close up. If you notice the handwritten sentiment has a shimmer. I just wanted to add a bit of pizzaz with out making the card too busy. I always find my star dust pen to do the job. I just love it as I do my liquid glass ;) Have you noticed I've been using it {liquid glass} a lot lately? I've owned it for like a year and now is that I appreciate it. It's a bad habit of mine {grin}.

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I'll get good lighting and'd be able to post the cards I created for the Embellish challenge and Raspberry Suite. It's been a long time since I've participated in either of those and am antsy to get back to them. They really help me keep my creativity flowing :)

Till then!!

Blessings,

Jessica

A Card And Stuff!!

I wanted to stop by to share with you all some cards and answer some questions regarding crafting tools and such.

This card in particular is a very simple valentine's day card. To create it I stamped the heart image then cut and distressed it (with scissors), using my craft knife I created two slits and placed the strip of dark chocolate cardstock right through it. I then stamped the sentiment and details. Before adhering it to my base card I added faux stitch and some embossed lines using my scor-pal.

Here's a close up. So you can see the mini rhinestones I added to the little flourishes. I really like this look.

To create the faux stitch effect I use a tracing wheel or at least this is the name some crafter friends gave me. Some of you have asked what it is (you might know it by a different name) here's a picture. You can create straight lines using a ruler or zig-zag around random lines. You can find these in the little sewing kits. I find this easier than piercing.

Through out my crafting experience I've found that the tools I use the most are those that were not intended for the job. When I began making cards I wasn't sure if this was a hobby I'd really pursue so I wanted to spend the minimum amount of money. So, I would look for ways to create certain designs using what I could find. Sometimes I'd see a stamp with a sentiment I just loved but didn't want to spend $8 for it so I'd jot it down take it home type it into my computer and print it right onto my cardstock then I'd embellish around it or I like to do some distressing so I'd use a lighter and burn the edges. Once, I used blackberries to dye my card ( I know, a little extreme). I used clear nail polish to add shine to letters or hearts, etc. Needless to say I love card making and I have simplified my life by just purchasing the tools especially because I know I'm going to get my moneys worth. The tracing wheel is one of those tools that have stayed with me. The little rhinestones on my card I bought at the $1 store (they are originally for nails). I use two of my little girls foam sheets (black & white) to create a pop up effect and I have a few other things I use of that sort. All to minimize price and maximize on product :)

Some of you have been asking for a materials and I will get those up really soon. Because o the inconvenience of not having a computer for so long I just wanted to share cards :)

Another thing some of you have been asking is for me to share a bit of what my husband and I do.

My husband is a Pastor and we've been missionaries for 10 years. For a while (before baby) we were traveling quite a bit. His main focus to teach people the beauty of Jesus through service and train others how to do so and I through health. I am a Life Style Coach. So my job was and is to help people change lifestyle- reverse or prevent diseases (hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc.). I normally work with doctors. We hold expos and city wide seminars, cooking classes, natural remedies classes, massage sessions and hydrotherapy (which is treatment with water). So while I'm helping people feel better physically my husband and a team of health professionals would work on spiritual and mental healing. Before establishing ourselves in a church (which has only been a year) we would spend 1 year in a city and work with local hospitals and churches then move to another city and do the same (sort of). I love my job and it has taken me to Europe, Canada, Central America and now USA (this year I've been assigned to work the Bay Area San Francisco and I am so thrilled for the opportunity. I'll be sure to post pics of the events just so you can get a glimpse of what it looks like :) My husband will be working with networking and youth rallies same area.

Well that's all for now I'll be bak tomorrow with some more creations :)

Blessings,

Jessica

Valentine's Treat!!

So love is in the air... and I am loving it!! Nothing speaks Valentines more to me than sweet things. It could be anything from cute little notes to pretty socks and pj's especially, sweet treats. I know once christmas is done we all want to go to the tread mill (and trust me I've been on mine) but one little indulgence here and there is always permitted, right? I think the key is moderation ;) So I wanted to share with you all a recipe I found over the holidays while trying to prepare last minute gifts. Hope you enjoy it as much as my loved ones and friends did :)

Here's an image of how I packed these delightful little treats. I used one of my clear bags (the ones you use to pack cards) and placed 8 biscuits then sealed the little bag. Then I created a tag to make it look a bit more presentable. I cut out a 4" piece of dark chocolate cardstock and folded in half then using my scor-pal I traced 2 lines to add a bit of detail to my panel. Then I created my focal point by using stamps and a felt marker. To finish it off I used 2 rhinestones. Simple, quick and classy. Perfect for the holiday rush (I made mine for Christmas so I used a simple pattern only with suitable colors for the season).

You can make these cookies look more suitable for Valentines if you use pink powder sugar and/or maybe toss some heart shaped sprinkles into the bag.

Now for the recipe: CAUTION THESE ARE EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE ESPECIALLY IF CONSUMED WITH TEA

Key Lime White Chocolate Tea Biscuits

preheat oven to 350 bake for 10-12 minutes (when edges are lightly brown)

1 cup All Purpose unbleached flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cups butter room temperature ( I used All Natural Sweet Cream Salted Land Lakes Butter)

1 teaspoon grated lime zest (crucial)

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed key lime juice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 cup white chocolate

1/4 cup macadamia nuts (optional)

Procedure:

1. Combine dry ingredients.

2. Cream butter, key lime juice, zest & vanilla until smooth.

3. Add dry mixture to the butter. Begin mixing on low and increase speed gradually. The mixture should be thick and look like dough. Fold in white chocolate and nuts.

4. Cover dough well and refrigerate for 45 minutes (this step is crucial).

5. Once the 45 minutes are done spoon dough onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I did tablespoon size.

6. Bake the cookies and let cool on the cookie sheet. Once cooled roll on powder sugar and enjoy.

That's the recipe simple enough, ay!! Let me know what you think about it when you try it :)

I'll be back in a few to post some more cards and to answer a few questions :) Stay tuned!! And yes there's still a giveaway coming soon!!

Till later ;)

Jessica