You're My Person

After a month of holiday tags and snowman cards I was sooooo ready to create something entirely new.  I grabbed one of the newest sets from MFT and started coloring.

Being honest here.  I have never been partial to their Pure Innocence line but this one had me at the sentiment.  I have a couple of near and dear friends that I could send this when the time is right.  Like when I need to hide a dead body...hypothetically speaking, of course.  (Yeah, right.  This girl loves her zombies, Dexter and Karin Slaughter novels.  I'm not fooling anyone.  LOL!)

I hope to be busy working on challenge cards the remainder of this week.  I love getting ideas for cards that I wouldn't otherwise come up with on my own.  Some of my favorite online challenge blogs are ....

CAS Colours & Sketches (new DT member)
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers  (Where I am the Reigning Queen of Snark...my fav title ever.)
Perfectly CAS
The Library Craft Challenge
Inspired By Laurel
Seize the Birthday


I have also participated in ...

Twofer Card Challenge (you definitely have to put on your thinking cap for this one)
Case This Sketch


And in 2020 I'm hoping to participate in the following....

Freshly Made Sketches
The Flower Challenge   (florals are definitely on my 2020 list.  They intimidate me.)
Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge  (Must. Do. More Watercoloring.)


What "go to" card challenges do you love?  Are there any that I'm missing out on here?  Please let me know in the comments so I can check them out.


Thanks so much for stopping by my little crevice of the blogosphere.  Here's to a productive and mojo-filled 2020!


Jules

 

Happy New Decade!

Today marks not only the first day of the new year but also the first day of a new decade.  I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking "how can that possibly be?"  I swear it was only last year that the world was coming to an end due to Y2K. 

On a personal note, my 2019 was filled with multiple health issues.  Some were resolved with surgery while others were not.  Sparing you all the horrid details, I discovered late this year that my remaining issues were all dietary related and I am happy to report that I now feel better than I have in years.  So out with 2019 and in with 2020!!! 

To ring in the new decade I created a very simple card using a set from the Essentials by Ellen line from Ellen Hutson.  They are actually having a sale today so you might just want to ring in the new year with some online shopping.  *wink*

I always find it difficult to capture shine in my photographs but trust me, this one is beautiful in person.  I used a glitter embossing powder from Nuvo which has turned out to be one of my favs.  

I want to personally thank each and every one of  you who take the time out of your day to visit me here on my blog as well as on Instagram.  The crafting community is amazing and I treasure all of the friendships it has brought into my life for the past 15 years.  I hope you all have an amazing 2020!  

Jules 

My Holiday Card

My posts have been fairly sparse this month but I'm sure you can all relate.  December is just a busy, busy time for everyone. 

After much procrastinating I managed to finish my cards and have them postal in time for the holidays.  (Well, maybe not for my Canadian friends but Happy New Year to you friends!  LOL!)  As I've probably mentioned before, I mass produce my Christmas cards.  Each year I pick one design and create them assembly line fashion.  This is my 2019 design....

Stamps from MFT

If I'm being entirely honest (and when aren't I?) I'm not in love with this year's card.  I chose a snowman thinking that it would be easy but my CAS gene wasn't entirely in gear when it came to the coloring and blinging.  I kept adding little time consuming details to a card that didn't even meet my expectations so that by the time I was barely half done,  I. WAS. OVER. IT.  

So my thoughts for next year.....

Mass producing one design (as opposed to creating dozens of different cards) eliminates the stress of me having to figure out "who got what card" each year.  Over the years however the number of cards I mail out has increased significantly.  Mass producing one design when my mailing list was 35-40 wasn't a big deal but now that I'm at 85 cards, it's just downright boring.  Not to mention that I have very little self control when it comes to shopping for all those cute holiday stamps and dies.  As a category they make up the majority of my stamps so why am I limiting myself to just one for my cards????  (Don't get the wrong idea, I do use many for my holiday tags so they're not all unused but I could be getting much more out of the larger images.)  

After far more internal debates than necessary *blush* I have decided to create 4-5 different designs each year...15-20 cards per design.  I think that will help with the boredom, utilize my stash more efficiently (as well as justify my spending habits) AND I will still be able to keep track of the cards vs. recipients so there's never any duplicates.  Bottom line....Jules Needs Some Variety. 

What's your preferred holiday card method?  Do you get bored with mass production?  If you aren't a mass producer, do you stress over the "did I send her this image/card last year?" syndrome?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I'm hoping to get back to online challenges and return to a regular posting schedule in a few days.  I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous holiday, no matter what you celebrate.  Thanks so much for following along with me.

Love...

Jules

Perfectly CAS #4

Today's card was created with the challenge over at the Perfectly Clean & Simple blog in mind.  Their theme this month is Celebrate. 

I tried something a bit different from my usual linear 1/3 and came up with this....

A little closer look at the coloring and shimmer...

It may not technically be 33.33% of the card front but hopefully it passes their scrutiny.   It went postal as soon as I got it photographed as it was Perfectly CAS for my sister-in-law's birthday.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by during this busy holiday season.  Much appreciated!

See you on the crafty side....

Jules

Snarky Stampers #150

Today I'm playing along with the gals at The Sisterhood 'cause procrastinating my Christmas cards seems to be what I do best lately.  hahahaha!

Their last theme of the year is X for X-rated and let me tell ya, some of the DT really know how to make a raunchy/naughty card.  *wink*  If you visit their blog, don't say I didn't warn ya.

Edna's not looking as happy as Santa.  LOL!

I decided to keep my 'for mature audiences only' card at one teensie weensie bit of foul language, which in this day and age isn't really even considered X-rated.  But I thought it went well with the image which I've had forever and never used.

A good multipurpose card, don't ya think?  :-)

Supplies.... image - Art Impression

                  sentiment - Snarky Stamps, a division of Paper Issues

                  border die - PaperTrey Ink

Believe it or not, I'm actually working on my Christmas cards right now and am almost at the addressing stage.  Thanks for spending some of your hectic holiday time with me.

See ya on the crafty side....

Jules

Finley Turns Five

This past weekend I made a very special card for a very special boy.  My grandson turns five on Tuesday and he is soooo excited.  He's really into Batman right now, especially Lego Batman, so I created his card around the character.


I used the Super Boy stamp from MFT Stamps to create a FinMan superhero.  I set it on an Art Impressions action wobbler so that it will wiggle on the front of the card.  (I made him a frog card several months ago with one and he still loves it.)

To create the background I blended several colors of Distress Inks onto a piece of blue card stock.  After it was dry I added some splatters with white acrylic paint. The skyline scene is from a very, very old set of dies from Memento. 

 A closer look at the coloring., using some tips 

I picked up from Kathy Racoosin's Road Trip.

And finally, because he is SUPER EXCITED to be turning five *wink* I had to announce it in large letters on the interior.  The alpha dies are also an MFT product, Little Letter Dienamics.

Thanks for stopping by!  And the answer to your burning question is No.  (Has she finished her holiday cards?)  Soon though, I promise.  ROFL!!

See ya all on the crafty side....

Jules

CC&S #351 and Some News

Hello friends.  Today I'm playing along with the CAS Colours & Sketch Challenge Blog once again but this time with a twist.  I was invited to join their Design Team recently and today marks my first  post as a member of their blog.  It's been a long time since I've been on a design team (at least a decade) and I'm excited to be back to being part of a team.  My first DT entry and their final challenge for 2019 is this....

                                       

I dug into their past challenges for 2019 and chose a sketch from Challenge #329 as the inspiration for today's card.  

                                                     

And now for my card....

Try as I might, a well lit photograph would not pick up the embossing on the circle however a photo with horrible lighting will pick up the texture....

Cringe-worthy photo but it does 

illustrate the texture.  

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My supplies included:

From MFT Stamps --  

starburst die    

Stitched Stax Circle Dies 

Trio of Trees (sentiment and apparently retired.)  

From The Stamp Market -- all cardstock, enamel dots and ink 

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Clean and Simple are my favorite cards to create and I'm excited to get to know my new teammates.  I know this time of year is hectic but I do hope you all will check out the challenge blog and participate in some future challenges when you have the time.  

Thanks for taking time out of your day to spend a little bit of it with me.  See you all on the crafty side....

Jules