October Highlights

These past few months have been the busiest. I started back to work over a month ago and it has been crazy busy. Since we only have a few short hours with the little man, crafting has to be done after he goes to bed or on weekend. I've taken on a few personal challenges.

I've started hosting a monthly crop class. October 21st will be my forth and we'll be doing two scrap book pages. There is still room if you want to join us.

https://www.facebook.com/events/521498904622596/

This weekend we are celebrating three birthdays along with Thanksgiving.

First birthday was my niece Elizabeth. I fell in love with this Silver fairy stamp and had to use it. I ordered the pdf online because I could not wait.

This is only my third card in a box, they are still very hard as there is so much space to file.

The second card, finished just tonight, is for our nephew Isaac. This one was hard because its for a boy, but I forgot I bought this DSP a few months ago. I love the googly eyes. This will also be my entry for Mojo Monday #366.

Then on Monday we celebrate my Dad's 60th.  This was also my first attempt at a napkin card. 

I hope he likes it, I had so much fun coming up with the embellishments, really proud of how it turned out.

Cheers for now!

Birthday Cheers

This past weekend we celebrated the 60th of my mom's dear friend Mary. A woman with such kindness and full of love. She is also very crafty, especially crocheting. For my birthday she made me the cutest little bird decor in my all time favorite color pink.

Last year, you may recall, I gave her a white butterfly mobile.  She still proudly has it displayed in her living room. This year there wasn't enough time to make something hand made other than the card.  One of my facebook groups was talking about using acetate in cards, I had seen it done but never really tried. Here was my first attempt and also the birthday card for Mary.

 Front of card

Once opened to display on mantel.

Sorry about the picture quality, I am down a camera and had to use my phone. The big black 3 layer flower is on a small piece of acetate so it wobbles a bit. Each butterfly is rimmed with sparkle as well. 

I was also commissioned to do up a card by one of the other guests at Mary's party. She wanted pink and girly.

I'm thinking this covers those requests :)

This is the first time I've used feathers, very hard to work with but I love the end product. I have several colored feathers in my craft room, I will be sure to use them again. 

And last but not least, one of my FB groups were also talking about a new technique using napkins. We had a wedding in July of a longtime friend of mine. Their reception decor was very nautical, and I snagged a couple of the schooner napkins. I think they turned out nice, perfect for a man's birthday.

Cheers for now.

Snowflakes in the Summer

My niece is turning 5 next week, although she acts like she is 30 :) I can't believe it's been 5 years, she is truly an amazing angel. She has been sending me Pinterest boards related to the movie Frozen. So I figured she would probably love a Frozen card in a box. I purchased the clip art on Etsy and dug out my Festive Fluries bundle and DSP Winter Frost, which was one of my favorite SU DSP ever!

Elsa's dress and head stick out a bit so I will have to make a custom envelope.

You can't see it but I loaded up Elsa's dress with sparkle :)

I like how it turned out but again, very hard to come up with the embellishments. There were only two other Frozen card in a box online. 3 now!

On to my next project........

Love Trying New Things

This week seems to be a good one for new challenges.

I received an order for a personalized graduation card. I thought what better time to try out the grad hat cards that I have seen so much on Pinterest. I incorporated the school colors of blue and yellow. Next year, I'll probably have a few available in my Etsy Store.

 Sorry for the blurr, my camera died yesterday :(

Once I finished with the graduation card,  I was so filled with inspiration that I decided to try out one of those cards in a box that I've been seeing so much of. The assembly was pretty easy to do but the embellishments took a very long time to design. I spent quite a bit of time staring at my unfinished work searching for ideas on unique embellishments. Here is the finished product.

The paper and flowers are a Micheal's find but they matched very well with SU Calypso Coral and Pool Party. I think my next one with be a 'Frozen' themed one for my little niece's birthday.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yes it's my birthday today, 38 yikes. I sure don't feel that old, although physically sometimes much older :)
In celebration I may do up a few birthday cards for other people, this Mojo Monday sketch seems like a good start.

We're attending a friends wedding this weekend, my parents are looking after the little man. It will be his first overnight without us, very anxious but it will be nice to spend the night as a single couple and not have to worry about him.

I prefer to give gift cards for weddings so the couple can buy what they want. But just a plain old gift card is no fun, my gift cards are always delivered in a box. I made a second one to sell at the next craft fair.  To my dismay I used up all The More Amour DSP from Stampin Up. Pitty, since I really like how these turned out, would have been nice to do a few more.

 The lid is embossed with writing.

 And pop open to reveal the gift card and all the decor. This is not the one I made for the couple, I added their initials on the left hand side instead.

I haven't done on of these in ages (since my last wedding) but it was fun.  I may do a few more just for kicks this summer.

Love a Challenge

I received an order this week for a custom card. I love when clients put me to the challenge. She loved my purse cards and wanted something similar in a light pink and gold. Now for anyone that knows me, I don't do gold, I mean that, I am a silver girl.  So looking for gold in my craft room was a challenge. I ended up having to run to Micheals for gold ribbon. Here is the final outcome, I'm loving it, I may have to increase my stock of gold embellishments.

I'll also be posting to Etsy a Masculine/Father's Day package. The following 3 cards for Dad. I kept them generic so that they can be used after fathers day but my dad is getting one this June :)

Clean House!

I've had to move all my craft stuff out of the dinning room and back downstairs into my craft room. Evan's dedication is this weekend and we need the dining room table to serve lunch to 25+ family members. It's actually kind of a blessing. I created so many cards the week before the Spring Boutique that I need to take a mental break. That being said my Pinterest to do list is pilling up so I'll need to get back at it soon.

I'm also going through the basement and trying to sell some baby stuff, stamps and punches. Trying to clear out some room and make a bit of money so I can order from the new Stampin Up catalog. I do have my priorities!

Here is a pic of my little man getting into mischief. I love how his father is able to sit back and take the picture while he chows down on my magazines :)

Quite time for this Momma!

My husband took the day off today so I finally get a bit of free time to update all the work I've been doing the last 3 weeks. The Bridge Spring Boutique was a huge success. I sold about 30 cards, and almost all of my mother's day cards. Here are two of the three I had, the third one was the pink purse card I posted before.

But really the best part of the day was being able to spend it with my own mother. Catching up with each other while waiting for customers. Time well spent for sure. Here was our table all set up.

Since wedding season is almost here I prepared several congratulations cards for the newly weds. They will be going up on my Etsy shop today.

This was the first time I've tried the star burst card, I really love it, will probably try a few more over the summer.

This Busy Bee

I have been a busy bee the last week and a bit.  My mother's day class samples are complete.  I already have one class booked and I'm holding a class at my house. Plus, mom and I signed up for a craft fair at our church on May 10th, so I made a few extra kits to sell.

Following my promise to offer more 3D items, I designed both sets with a fun little present. The candle was a sample Stampin Up project in the 2013-2014 Catalogue.

 This one is blank but very feminine. I also made a few for my Etsy shop and have already sold one :) Purse cards seem to be a big hit, I'll probably create a variety more once things slow down.

I'll probably make a few more of the milk carton's for the craft fair. I've also dove into the past and recreated a few of my mother's day, father's day cards for sale. It's going to be another busy week!

YAY for Spring!

I can almost see our entire front lawn today! Yay for warm weather and sun.

I've been really busy the last couple of weeks putting together a few things.  Two weeks ago I announced that I was changing my business name to Jo Jo's Creations.  With the launch of my Etsy shop, I've been excited to start expanding my product outside of the Stampin Up realm. To kick off my new company name, I posted a bunch of projects I had already complete on my Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jo-Jos-Creations/366052030076880)

I love having something hanging from the door to greet guests but so far I only have two wreaths, one for Halloween and one for Christmas. So my commitment this year is to have one for each month.

I'm loving how my spring wreath turned out.  I may move it next year to February because of the heart embellishments. The fabric and paper are both retired Stampin Up products, "Flirtatious", they have to be one of my favorite designs ever so I have a good stock :)

Here is a close up of the flowers and W for Wood!

My mother's day class samples are almost complete, just waiting for a few supplies to arrive!

Feeling normal again

Ugg! We have all been sick the last two weeks with a cold. Thank God it's finally run it's course and we can get back to normal life.  It's been all sleep and couch potato in this house. I did manage to make the Thank you cards for the volunteers at church.  It was a great surprise breakfast, so nice getting to know them outside of the nursery.

I loved them so much that I ended up making a few extra for my Etsy shop. I unfortunately did not create any card candy but my next one is going to be wedding based. I was at Micheals and stocked up on a bunch of ideas. Next week I have a store owner coming over to sign a deal for her to sell my cards at her Handmade Craft Store.  I'm very excited, I've already put together a bunch of my best work. I'll be even more excited when I have to replenish her stock :)

Vintage Week

Creating card candy is much harder than I first imagined. I started an Easter themed one but could only come up with 4 out of 5 embellishments. For now it goes in my half finished project drawer. I took most of the week to design my mother in-law's 60th birthday card. We were suppose to join the rest of the family on Sunday for lunch downtown but alas Evan woke up with pink eye. Poor little guy, mommy still has to poke him in the eye four times a day to administer his medication. Anyways, here is the final product. I'm on a vintage kick so my next few projects are likely to reflect that.

 The pendant tops were really hard to glue together.  I took inspiration from this card to create my next card candy for Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/180001192/card-candy-vintage-birthday?

The pendants are much easier to affix this way. Next on the agenda, 8 thank you cards for the lovely volunteers at our church who look after Evan every Wed so I can get in some alone time with other mommies. And more card candy of course :)

My Week of Romance

My creative juices are flowing this week.

I've created and posted my first (of many) card candy on Etsy. I have so many stamp sets that my options seem almost unlimited. Since I had the stamp set Artistic Etchings out for the coasters, I decided to start with Paris themed embellishments.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/179181408/card-candy-paris

I think my next few will be Easter\spring themed.

 Also my valentine crafts have come to a close.  I've always brought small gifts to my coworkers on Valentine's day. But since I am on Mat leave, I got to treat my mom's group at our church. 30 little goody bags with cookies and chocolates. The heart shaped chocolates were SO good, that I had to send my husband for more since I kept eating them :) These are the left overs going in with my husband to work tomorrow.

Next on the list.... 60th Birthday card for my MIL and more, lots more card candy!

Mojo Monday 331

I am feeling the romance in the air :)  My monthly open house is this Sunday, normally there is no format but this week there will be a few ladies that are new to scrapping so I offered to provide a free card kit to get them started. This Mojo Monday challenge was the perfect layout for what I wanted to do.

A lot of the embellishments are from last years Artisan Kit. I love the overall romantic feeling the lace and flowers provide.  I also stained a bunch of doilies with tea but decided not to use them; however, now I have stained doilies that smell like chocolate for future projects :) 

I am also working on a 3D project for a friend. These cute little drink coasters are just waiting for me to pick up the sealant.

2014 Already?

Where the heck did the time go? The past six months have been extremely busy, today is my little man's 6 month birthday. Isn't he a cutie :)

He is the most amazing child, so easy going and well behaved.  Which gives momma time to do her crafts. 

I'm trying to do a lot more 3D projects. Here is one of my favorites I did for my niece. Believe it or not it took about 3 hours to make, the ruffles on the dress are harder than they look.

Have a lot on the go so will have to update more regularly.