Brilliant Fall

Gotta love technology these days! It's been about a week without my desktop computer thanks to a virus and some other unwanted programs. It only took me about five days to use the virus scan protection program on our computer to figure out what was wrong and to clear up the problem. I'm glad to be back online without having to squint to see everything on my little phone!

So without having a computer to distract me for the last week, I was actually able to get some stamping done! Here's my latest creation that I made for the latest DRS Designs blog challenge. It's for a color challenge that's perfect for Fall! 

I used their new Sunflower Hurricane Candle (167K) as the focal point on this card. I colored it with Copic markers and used a new embossing folder in the background. I still had vellum laying out on my desk from one of the last cards I created and thought it would be perfect to highlight the Brilliant Fall Greeting (502D) on this card as well.  Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles, 

Jennifer

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Purple Birthday

I've seem to have lost my mojo over the last few weeks, but it seems that the only thing keeping it alive right now is the inspiration I'm finding with challenges.  This weeks DRS Designs Blog challenge inspired today's card as well. 

The challenge is Who's the (em)Boss? Clever, huh? Your entry needs to have embossing on it--heat or dry embossing will do! I went ahead and used the Cuttlebug Birthday folder for the background on my card.

For the focal area on the card front, I stamped the Single Birthday Candle (258B) repeatedly and colored it with Copic Markers. Then, I stamped the Small One Line Happy Birthday (250B) in the space at the bottom that wasn't embossed with the folder. I added some purple and white twine, tied with a bow, to show the separation between the embossed and non-embossed areas.  I took this card one step further and stamped the One More Candle Greeting (481E) in the inside to complete it. 

Check out DRS Designs challenge HERE for all the details on how you can win a $10 DRS Designs store voucher just for playing along!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Smiles, 

Jennifer

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Wedding Candles

There's a lot going on over at DRS Designs this week. I'm excited to tell you that they are gearing up for another release. Many of the DT members are sharing some sneak peeks, myself included :-)

I used some of the new stamps to create my challenge entry for the Shabby Tea Room blog challenge, "Pretty in Pink." DRS Designs is their sponsor this week and the challenge is to create a card inspired by the photo using white/cream, pink, green flowers and lace or ribbon.

I stamped the Wedding Ring Ensemble (028G) on to ivory cardstock and then paper pieced the the candles and the ribbon in the image so they were white.  It was a tedious task, yes, but I had to make them stand out. The rest of the image was colored with Copic Markers.  The To Have and To Hold Greeting (1171G) was stamped as shown to the upper right of the image. I added some pearls to the bottom of the the greeting and the ivory cardstock was trimmed with a white decorative border. Some iridescent ribbon was added to the bottom and the card front was adhered to a pink 5.5" x 3.5" cardstock base.

One lucky winner will win a $10 store voucher to DRS Designs. Check out al;l the details and link your entry HERE.

Good Luck and have a great day!

Smiles, 

Jennifer

PS: DRS Designs new stamps will be available for purchase this Saturday April 5th!

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Pink Birthday!

Hi Everyone! Hope this post finds you well! Today I'm taking a break from all the holiday cards to show off a birthday card I sent to Operation Write Home. I kept it CAS, but I love how it turned out with all the different shades of pink!

I created the background paper for this card by stamping the Single Birthday Candle (258B) repeatedly and coloring them with Copic Markers. I layered it with dark pink cardstock that was decorated with a border punch and adhered it to the center of a piece of medium shade of pink card stock used for the card front. I used a decorative corner punch in all four corners and added 3 little white pearls to the lower right area under the decorative border.

The focal point I used for this card is DRS Designs Funky Birthday Image (494D) which was matted with a scalloped square and popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Birthday Candle Wishes

Last week I showed a picture of all the cards I sent in to DRS Designs Operation Write Home Card Drive. Well, as promised, here's the scoop on one of them.

I started with an A2 size light blue cardstock base.  I stamped the Single Birthday Candle (258B) repeatedly on white cardstock to make my own handmade pattern paper. Then I  colored it with Copic Markers. I used this paper to decorate the top portion of my dark blue card front, and then added some satin ribbon tied in a bow at the bottom of it.  Next, I stamped the Small Birthday Wishes Greeting (020B) in the lower right corner of the card front and added 2 pearls to finish it off.

I hope whoever receives it likes it as much as I do!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Happy Birthday

It won't be long now until DRS Designs finally wraps up the card drive they are holding for Operation Write Home. I've created several Birthday and general occasion cards to submit. Here's one of the birthday cards.

I created it with shades of olive green, so it would be perfect to send to either a man or a woman. Both the Single Birthday Candle (258B) and the Small Script Happy Birthday sentiment (159D) are by DRS Designs. The background was simply created my embossing white cardstock with the Birthday Embossing folder and sponging it with olive ink. After matting it with black cardstock, I wrapped the bottom with black raffia and then adhered the candle on the lower left side with foam tape. This was all added to an A2 cardstock base and then I added 3 square gems to the upper right side to finish it. I love this simple, elegant design and hope you do too!

DRS Designs is collecting A2 cards to send to the troops until October 10th. If you have some (with envelopes) that you'd like to donate, please see all of the details HERE.

Thanks for visiting here today. I hope you'll be back soon!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Warms My Heart

I know many of you are probably thinking "I can't believe she's bringing up the 'C' word already," but have any of you given any thought to this years Christmas cards yet?

I decided to change things up a bit and created this Christmas card for the Diamond and Pearls challenge on the DRS Designs Blog this week. I used red rhinestones for my diamonds and yellow pearls to accent my card front.

I used the Candles Galore image (746K) for the focal point on this card.  It was colored with Copic Markers.  I added the "glow" to each flame by using a circle stencil and sponging yellow ink around the flames.  

Then, I added yellow Stickles to each flame for a bit of sparkle! I split up the Warms My Heart Greeting (717E) to decorate the top and bottom portion of the image.  Definitely a warming card, wouldn't you agree?

DRS is giving away another great prize this week.  Run over and link your challenge card for a chance to win! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Thanksgiving Blessings

The new challenge on the DRS Designs Blog this week is candles.  I got a little creative and changed up the Holly Hurricane (164M) to look more harvest-like.  

The candle, hurricane glass, and bow were colored with Copic Markers.  I sponged light brown ink around the hurricane and then added a bit of yellow Stickles to the candle flame and then Diamond Glaze to the hurricane make it look like real glass.  For the transition from a Christmas image to a Thanksgiving image, I stamped the Bunch of Wheat (137K) repeatedly, colored them with Copic Markers, fussy cut them out, and then arranged them over the bottom of the hurricane to cover up the holly. I replaced the bow that was originally there.

The new Thanksgiving Blessings Sentiment (637E) was broke up and stamped individually to fit the layout.

DRS Designs is giving away a great prize this week for this challenge.  Check out all the details HERE and link up your card for a chance to win! 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you'll be back soon! 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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One More Candle!

Hey Everyone! 

Interested in new stamps?  Yesterday was Release Day over at DRS Designs and this release focuses mostly on some fun Birthday stamps.  Check them all out HERE. The Birthday card shown below displays the new One More Candle Greeting (481E).

I used the Girly Swirly Cake (454M) as the main image for this card.  I thought it was perfect with all of those candles on top!  I colored it with Copic Markers and sponged yellow ink around it.  I added a bit of sparkle using yellow Stickles on the flames, flower centers, and the stars around the sentiment.  

I'll be showing off more of the new releases in my upcoming posts.  Stay tuned, and enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Smiles,
Jennifer

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May Your Days Be Merry

Hi Everyone!

If you're a regular follower of mine or the DRS Blog then you're familiar with all of the Christmas In July Challenges the DRS DT has been doing. This week's challenge is Christmas in general again, but the DT is showing off the brand new Christmas stamps DRS Designs is releasing this weekend!! I can hardly contain my excitement about them and I'm glad I can finally show off a sneak peek!

I think this Merry and Bright card is my favorite of all of the cards I've made from this batch. Maybe it's the colors or the cute sentiment banner I added (which, I've never made before and love, love, love!) I'm wondering why I didn't try making this kind of banner a long time ago. All of the stamps I used to create this card are new and will be available for purchase this Saturday, July 28th. They include the White Christmas Text (259P) that I used to create the background, the Holiday Hurricane Lamp (253G) and the Merry and Bright Stars Greeting (333E).

The image was colored with Copic Markers and to dress it up a bit I added my favorite yellow Stickles to the flame. Then when it was dry I applied Diamond Glaze over the entire area of the hurricane glass to give it a realistic look.

I hope you like this card as much as I do! 

Smiles,

Jennifer

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Color Throwdown #100

DRS Designs is one of the great sponsors sponsoring the Color Throwdown #100 Challenge.

I created this birthday card for the challenge.

I used DRS Designs Birthday Candle Burst (L451) and the Tiny Happy Birthday (A1081) stamp.  The candles were colored with Copic Markers and I layered cardstock puched with my Martha Stewart Zig Zag punch.  The tiny Happy Birthday was cut out with my Nesties dies and I sponged light pink ink over top of it while it was still in the Nestie die.  Of course I added my favorite Yellow Stickles to the candle flames for a bit of bling! :-)
 
Want to win this prize package?

Make sure to head over to Kisa's Blog from the Color Throwdown DT.  She's the one giving away this golf prize package from DRS Designs.  All you have to do to win is create a paper crafted project using the challenge colors above and then leave a comment on her blog.
Good Luck!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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So Good You could Almost Eat It!

Have you missed me?  

I know I haven't posted much in the last 2 weeks since my Grandpa's passing and the little get-away I was at over the weekend. 

I've spent the last 4 days with the girls from the Stamp Shack for a stamping weekend at the Potawatomi Inn in Indiana.  Basically, it's a 4 day crop called Shackapolooza!  This is our 3rd consecutive year doing this.  We stay at a beautiful hotel in a State Park and rent out one of their conference rooms as our crop room for the weekend! It was tons of fun! There's nothing like getting the girls together, stamping, laughing and snacking for 4 whole days!  

Over the entire weekend I learned several new techniques and created about 13 cards!  This is a huge success for me.  Usually I am too busy running my mouth and looking at what everyone else is doing rather than concentrating on my own projects.  However, I was bound and determined to make this year different and I really got a lot done!

One of the cards I made/played with is this Birthday card.

The cake, candle and inside sentiment are all by DRS Designs.  This is also the first time I've ever created an easel card.  I'm not too sure I like the easel part of this card, but I do love the way that cake looks!

It's almost good enough to eat! Doesn't the frosting look real? I created it using white Liquid Applique and real Betty Crocker Sprinkles!

Hope you have a great Monday. Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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It's Your Birthday...Have cake!

The DRS DT is gearing up for Release Day this Thursday, April 1st.  Are you ready for some new stamps!?!?!?  You can see sneek peeks on the DT blogs all week.

Here's my first one!

I've used 5 new DRS stamps to create this card: The Slice of Cake (F261), the Single Birthday Candle (B258), Happy Birthday Arc (E211), the Lots of Dots Giga Circle (L094) and the Oval Spiro Graph (L160).

I used the masking technique to add the candle image to the slice of cake. They were colored with Copic Markers. I sponged yellow ink around the candle flame to create a "glow" and used Yellow Stickles on the candle to give it that firey look.   
I love this cake image!  There are endless fun possibitites you can do with it, and you can be sure you'll see this image again very soon with some other great ideas!  
Hope you enjoy the sneek peeks this week,
Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Jennifer

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So Many Candles Sneak Peek!

I created a fun, red and yellow, glittery Birthday card recently--it's an idea to share when there are so many candles! But, today is my day to post on the DRS Designs blog, so you'll have to run over there to see the rest of it!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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Autumn Candle Set

Today begins the 5th DRS Designs blog challenge!! This challenge is to create "anything but a card." The challenge runs for two weeks but there is no time limit to participate. You can see a list of the previous challenges in the side bar on the DRS Designs Blog. You are welcome to play along at any time! If you do participate, please post a link to your creation on the DRS Designs Blog so we can all come and take a look! If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword: DRSC5.

For my "Anything but a card challenge," I made an Autumn Candle Set. I saw a tutorial here, and I just loved how hers turned out, so I had to give it a try!

Just like in her tutorial, I stamped all of my images first on white tissue paper that I cut down to the size of each candle. Then, I used my heat gun to melt the candle just slightly so that the tissue paper would adhere to it. As a finishing touch, I added sheer orange ribbon around the large candle and around each of the votive holder stems.

I am very happy with how each candle turned out, even more so that this is my first attempt at an altered item!

Here are some close up pictures:

Here are the back sides of the candles:

Stamps: DRS Designs- Small Silhouette Leaf, Tiny Fall Leaf, Small Autumn Greetings, The beauty of Autumn
Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks in Tangerine, Warm Red, Yellow Ochre, Chestnut Roan, Lime Pastel
Paper: White Tissue paper from Target
Accessories: C&G Orange Sheer Ribbon, Heat gun, Large White Candle from the Dollar Store, small white candles from Party-Lite, Votive holder Vases from Joann's

Make sure to check the other Altered projects done by the other DRS Design DT members:

Angel Rivera
Cathy Indelicato (Team Coordinator)
Dawn Knight
Etha Schuette
Heather Lee-Reppen
Janette Olen
Jessica George
Jessica Knutsen
Vicki Parson

Have I ever told you that I Love Leaves? LOL!

Have a Wonderful Monday!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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