{ the toast }

We are still in the month of January...so I think 2009 is still in the "new" stage. I hope the remaining 11 months are filled with wonderfully blessed events for you and your family. Cheers to you!

This was one of my New Year's cards. I have always thought martinis were fun to look at. Looking at this card, I think I am right.

I used the stamp set "Cheers to You." It is awesome. It has the words on this card, a martini, a beer, a hurricane drink, champagne glasses, and a margarita. So, so, so cute. This can be used to make cards for any social gathering, a congratulations, girls' night, etc.

Let me know your occasion...I would love to make something with this set for you.

{ the checkerboard }

The board side

The checkers

The side view

The flat view...more details to come.

{ the tickets }

My sister is gonna kill me when she finds this on here.....but a few posts ago I told you about Jessica's Christmas present....the Celine Dion tickets. Well, every year at Christmas Jessica mentions how much fun it would be to do a scavenger hunt for our presents. Good thought, Jess! Thanks! This year, or last year rather, I wrapped 5 packages for these tickets. The first four contained scavenger hunt clues; the fifth one had the tickets. These are the pics (not in any particular order) of Jessica's search for her present!

{ the bleach }

I learned the bleaching technique from MY Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Dane (she is my Upline)! This was fun to do...I think I made 12 of these in several different colors. Stampin' Up!'s cardstock bleaches very nicely.

For this card, I stamped my image in Versa-Mark, which is a watermark pad. Then, I embossed the flower using clear embossing powder and a heat gun. The embossing gives a good outline for bleaching. I used a watercolor brush (the cheap one for children's watercoloring) with plain bleach. I think I repeated the bleaching one time to make it really white.

I used the Pick-A-Petal stamp set for this one. It is by far my most-used set! The cardstock color is Ruby Red. Another commonly used item. It is one of my favorite colors.

{ the window }

I love putting stamps and Designer Series Paper on black cardstock. The black just makes everything else "POP!" This was a card I demo-ed at one of my September workshop. I used the stamp set Window Dressing and Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. With this stamp set, you can put anything in the window. There is a little girl, a snowman, a cat....why don't I just post a picture of the set! There is so many different types of cards you can make with this one.

Do you see all of the cute things you can put in that window? Oh, I just love this set. Let me know if you have an idea for a card. I will make it just for you!!!

{ happy thanksgiving }

These were the cards I made for Thanksgiving 2008! My apologies if you did not receive one. I only made 6 tree cards and 6 pumpkin cards. Five of each to give away...one of each for me to keep. The cute little turkey card was in my Stampin' Success magazine. I made it for two teacher-friends that wanted them as their own Thanksgiving cards. Of course, I made one for myself! I thought they all turned out cute!

{ the concert }

For Christmas, I gave my sister the BEST present ever!!!! She absolutely LOVES Celine Dion! So, I bought her (us) tickets to her Birmingham concert. Well, it was last night, and we had the best time. That is until we got back to my car when the concert was over!

I had a flat tire! Now, I can handle most situations without losing my cool (and I have a lot of cool!)....but having a flat tire at 11 p.m. in a bad part of a city that I am not familiar with....YIPES! I was fine while I was "trying" to change the tire. It was the ride back to Tupelo that made me a nervous wreck.

Now, you know it was an extremely cold night...12 degrees! I told Jessica to get out of the car because if a kind Samaritan was going to stop, he would be more likely to stop if he saw TWO damsels in distress.

And it worked! But you will never guess who stopped to help....one of Celine's tour buses!

Okay, that's not true. But I was secretly hoping she would ride by and want to help; then Jessica and I would get to meet her and then I would have this great story to tell for the rest of my life. But it never happened, and I guess I'm okay with that!

Anyway, these guys whose job it is to help in these type situations drove by at the very moment I had gotten the lug nuts loosened. But he had a floor jack...whatever that is. He changed my tire. So in ten minutes, Jessica and I were leaving the big city of Birmingham without a run-in with Celine Dion.

Other than the flat tire, the night was awesome. If you have never seen her perform, I highly recommend it. I had a great time...and I know Jessica had the time of her life...

{ the birthday invitations }

These are two birthday invitations I had made during the summer. The clown card was for Laura's 6th birthday, and the bowling pins were for my sister's birthday.

The clown card was a lot of fun to make. Stamps were used just to make the collar (purple, green, pink, and blue). And the stamp was from a flower set called Pick A Petal. The rest of the clown was made using punches.

I love doing paper crafts with punches. There is so much you can make with them. I made several different Christmas gift tags with penguins, snowmen, Rudolph, and Santa using only paper, punches, and glue. If I can find them, I will post those, too.

Invitations are fun...each occasion is different, so I get to be creative. If you ever want me to design invitations for you, let me know.

Price: 20 cards with envelopes - $40

Email me for more information.

{ the wedding invitation }

I just smile everytime I look at this one. This is the invitation for a very good friend's wedding. And yes, it is handmade...sorta! The leaves were drawn by another good friend of mine...Mrs. Jamie Baker! I did the writing. They were printed at a local print shop. Then the bride and I did the watercoloring on the leaves.

First of all, I love to include watercoloring on my cards. It gives them such a nice look. In fact, my Christmas card for 2008 was watercolored. But I digress. These were fun to make. Each one turned out differently...I mean, seriously, no one can copy watercoloring exactly. Whatever.....they all turned out to be gorgeous, just like the wedding!

{ the name frame }

Okay, so this isn't the best picture...but it is all I had. Besides cardmaking, I also LOVE to make these "name frames." I take pictures of different signs (business, street, whatever) around Tupelo. Then I put the pictures on the ever-so-handy Picasa software on my computer and edit them as much as I like. Then I print them individually and collage them together and put them in a frame. I have several photos of each letter. And I just love how cool and unique each one is.

And just for the record, I make these to sell. So, if you want one let me know. Price is determined by length of the name/word. Email me with your info. All are black and white.

{ christmas stamp-a-stack }

So, first things first....I didn't make all four of these cards. My dear, kind, wonderful friend Stephanie made the one in the top right corner (the one with the snowman).

The other three are some of the cards that we did at my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack! I just loved these designs. I have extras of some of these, so maybe I will send those out this year. And once again, I know Christmas has passed, but I wanted to share these with you! I hope you enjoy them.

{ merry christmas }

Now, before you start.....I am aware Christmas was three weeks ago. But I was so busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas that I only had enough time to make about 10 Christmas cards. With that said, here is the card I wish I had been able to send to each of you. Please accept my apology for not giving it to you before Christmas passed.

{ the finished products }

I finally finished the "sleeping bag" invitations. I only had to make 15 of them, but this was televisions's premiere week. And supposedly, the shows were going to be the best ones of the season...quite frankly, I feel ripped off, and I want my money back! Okay, I didn't have to pay anything extra to watch these shows, but I did spend hours of my life (that I will bever get back, mind you) only to be left with this empty feeling. Ugh! I hate being disappointed!

Let me get off of my soapbox and get back to the reason for this post. I finished the invites....and I absolutely LOVE them. I think I am going to make some "Thinking of You" cards with this layout for myself.

I love making cards, but I do not like to make the same exact card over and over and over and over....it is repetitive and redundant (repetitive and redundant, ha ha!). That line, by the way, is part of one of my most favorite quotes from Gilmore Girls. Anyway, if someone wants 15 of the same card, I always try to make at least one of the cards slightly different.

So....here it is....the collage of all of the different colors I used on the cards. And yes, I made 16 cards. I always make an extra one that I keep. It goes in a portfolio for my customers to see. Send me an email if you ever want to take a look....

{ the sleeping bag }

So, a teacher-friend asked me if I could/would make the birthday invitations for her daughter's birthday. She told me that it was going to be a spend-the-night party, and she thought an invitation that looked like a sleeping bag would be neat. And I thought, "Oh, that would be so cute...I know exactly what I am going to do!" I do love a challenge! So naturally, I accepted the offer. The following pics are just a couple of what I came up with. I did an assortment of colors...and maybe when I have a little more time, I will post those as well. Everything used is Stampin' Up! product!

{ the new year }

So, I have made a decision. I actually made this decision on January One. Are you ready to hear it? Hold on to your hats, folks.....here goes!

No resolutions this year - just 365 chances to try new things! With that said...Cheers to 2009 and all of the wonderful experiences it brings!

FINALLY!

Allow me to introduce myself...my name is Jennifer. My real job is teaching Spanish to K-3 students, and I love it! But in addition to teaching, I am also a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. And in my spare time, I like to craft. Any type of crafting really...metal art, painting, jewelry, etc. You name it; I'll try it; but my focus is scrapbooking and card-making.

Well, I have been thinking for several months whether or not I wanted to commit to this whole "blogging" world. Obviously I decided to go for it. My reason for doing all of this is to share what I love...creating!

I will be posting pictures of cards (mostly), scrapbook layouts, and other paper crafts that I have come up with. So, if you would like me to create something for you, just let me know.