JENerally Speaking

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Party Cats & Dogs

The other day I got busted by a lady who buys my cards from the animal hospital:

"Jen, I love your cards but you've been on a bit of a flower bender lately. More dog and cat cards please!"

She's right. I have tons of animal stamps but I keep reaching for easy, often used images especially flowers and balloons. For some reason I'm always apprehensive about using stamps for the first time which is pretty silly. It's not like you can use them incorrectly. Does anyone else feel this way? Anyway I steered myself to the animal stamps and pulled out Party Grumplings - a Taylored Expressions set that was totally NBUS despite me being desperate to get my hands on it. How cute is that grumpy kitty? I paper pieced him but used a colour as the base layer (instead of my usual white) to make him pop a bit more. I got that idea from Courtney Kelley who is my fussy cutting and paper piecing idol (see here and here specifically). I LOVE her style!

I'm going to enter this card in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White) Papertrey Ink, (Pink Pirouette, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede, Basic Black) Stamping' Up

Patterned Paper: (Flags & light beige from Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 6x6, Textured beige from Mayberry 6x6) American Crafts

Stamps: (Cat & sentiment from Party Grumplings) Taylored Expressions

Inks: (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder: (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Die: (Stitched Arch Stax) My Favourite Things

Sticking with the animal theme I made this card using the current design at Freshly Made Sketches. This time I used some Lawn Fawn stamps and some Echo Park papers. Now that I'm looking at it on the screen I'm kind of wishing I'd put a party hat on the pooch. May have to go back and do that...

That's it for now. Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: (This & That Graceful 6x6) Echo Park

Stamps: (Dog from Critters at the Dog Park, Cupcake from Bake Me a Cake, Sentiment from So Much to Say) Lawn Fawn

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die: (Stitched Rectangle) Mama Elephant

Gems: Recollections

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Skipping Stones Design

Hi there! I'm sharing a card today over at the Skipping Stones Design Blog. I'd love it if you popped over to take a look at it!

Have a great day!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

CASology #187

Welcome to Week 187 of CASology! Take a look at the cue word for this week:

I love this fan image (unfortunately retired) from Sweet Stamp Shop and I thought of it immediately when I saw this cue word. I also love the "fan-freakin-tastic" part of the sentiment so I wanted to highlight it when I made the card. I found a stripe stamp that fit the sentiment perfectly and stamped it in Poppy Parade. Then I paper pieced the fan, popped it up on foam tape and added a gem to the centre of it. Clean and crisp with a pop of fun color from the stripe. And now it's over to you guys - check out the fabulous inspiration from the design team and then play along!

And this week's guest designer:

Michele

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that the deadline for entries is Monday at noon (CST).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White) Papertrey Ink, (Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stamping' Up

Stamps: (Fan & sentiment from Spin Me) Sweet Stamp Shop, (Have a...birthday from Sketchy Cities America) Altenew, (Background Basics: Super Stripes) Papertrey Ink

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Poppy Parade) Stampin' Up

Gem: Recollections

Friday, February 26, 2016

Skipping Stones February Stamp & Share Challenge

Hello and welcome to Skipping Stones February Stamp & Share Challenge! We have a sketch challenge this month and we would love for you to play along. Skipping Stones Design stamps are NOT required to play along (but if you have some we'd love to see you use them)!

I pulled out the Funderwear set from the most recent release. This set cracks me up and I especially love this pair of sassy granny panties! I thought they'd look great in pink polka dots so I paper pieced them and popped them up on foam tape. I trimmed the sentiment stamp into two pieces so that I could place it above and below the image and also curve each line - I love that you can do this with stamps and make them even more versatile!

I hope you'll find some time to play along with us especially as one lucky person will win a Skipping Stones Design stamp set of their choice! Be sure to check out the rest of the fabulous inspiration from the design team and then get crafting!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White, Soft Stone) Papertrey Ink, (Regal Rose) Stamping' Up

Patterned Paper: (Let's Polka, Mon Amie 6x6) Lawn Fawn

Stamps: (Panties & sentiment from Funderwear) Skipping Stones Design

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die: (Stitched Circles) Lil' Inker Designs

Gems: Recollections

Thursday, February 25, 2016

CAS(E) This Sketch #161

I'm super excited to be Guest Designer this week at CAS(E) This Sketch! I was once on the design team at this fabulous challenge and still try to play along whenever I can. I stuck pretty close to N@'s sketch with my card. I love these WPlus9 elephants and think this guy and his balloon go along perfectly with the Altenew sentiment. I actually loved this card so much that I made it in a few different colours. I hope you'll play along this week. The design team has their usual array of amazing inspiration so check them out and then join in!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White) Papertrey Ink, (Tangelo Twist, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Stamps: (Elephant & balloon from Unforgettable)WPlus9, (Sentiment from Halftone Hello) Altenew

Ink: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Markers: (Tangelo Twist, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up, (C-1) Copic

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

JUGS Blues

Hi there! I just have one card to share today for the Just Us Girls colour challenge. I thought those blues were perfect for making a masculine birthday card for my card orders. I paired an old Papertrey Ink sentiment with my favourite Lil' Inker balloons and came up with this simple guy card.

That's it for me - off to walk Tex! :)

Supplies Used:

Cardstock: (White) Papertrey Ink, (Bermuda Bay, Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy, Smokey Slate) Stamping' Up

Stamps: (Sentiment from Think Big Favourites #7) Papertrey Ink

Ink: (Night of Navy) Stamping' Up

Dies: (Balloons & string) Lil' Inker Designs

Glitter: (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

CASology #186

Welcome to Week 186 of CASology! Take a look at the cue word for this week:

I went straight for the watercolor smooshing technique when I saw this cue word. I used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and smooshed it on some watercolor paper, dried it and smooshed some more on top. I did that a few times and love the cool texture it ended up with. I die cut a circle from the smooshed paper, paper pieced the Lawn Fawn whale and popped him up on foam tape.

Now it's your turn to show us your CAS distress cards so check out the beautiful inspiration from the rest of the design team and then play along!