I'm a Guest Designer

It has been a VERY long week, but it has been a lot of fun. Between being off for spring break and all the holiday celebrating, it will be hard to get back into the swing of things. This week, however, I am so excited about my guest designing spot on Use It Tuesday! The Anything Goes challenge is definitely a a favorite of mine. At first I thought it would be fitting to create something that reflects who I am as a crafter and I think I hit it right on the head with this Glitter Panda shaker easel card. I have been holding on to this adorable panda stamp for quite some time and this seemed like the perfect chance. I dipped into my extensive stash of paper for this one and then used my pearls, glitter and ribbon too. I even created the flower using a punch instead of my go to Cricut cartridges. Then, I needed to make an Easter card for my mother-in-law and fell in love with that one! So, I decided to post the Easter card on Use it Tuesday and here it is:

There are a few techniques I want to explain with this one, so I will create another post to explain how I made it, but wanted to include it here today :)


Panda hugs!
J-
Glitter Panda

Check out my posts on how to create an easel card and my video on how to create a shaker card to learn the techniques I used here!

Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! If you are celebrating, I hope your day is full of fun and excitement!! We're going green here to celebrate. Although the holiday is today, my card was actually ready last week and is now finding its home in IRELAND! I knew I was going to make a card to celebrate my Year of Holiday Cards, and always love when I have a fabulous use for my cards. This one was great because I sent it to my brother-in-law's family in Ireland!!

I don't have the recipe for this one because I had to make it in a hurry, but you can find the recipe for my easel cards here. I used the shaker card process as well for the top layer. This was nice and easy because I used tiny shamrock die cuts from the Cricut Designer's Calendar cartridge inside (all shamrocks on the card, including the cutout are the same cut at different sizes), so the foam tape could have small gaps without the filling falling out. For embellishment on the top card, I hand stitched the card with my white gel pen, and added green Recollections crystals. On the bottom card, I added rainbow ribbon with green glitter ribbon over it (both are taped down under the layer), and stamped it with my Studio G stamp that has a horseshoe with the words Luck O' the Irish all the way around.

Panda Hugs!
-J

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #93 - Go Green or RECYCLE!

Simon Says Stamp - A Bit O' Green

Use it Tuesday Challenge #27 - Green! - (used my go to Recollections paper, my crystals from my stash, and Offray rainbow ribbon I have had for 100 years!)

Feelin' Like a Diva

 Today was a spectacular day. The sun was shining, it reached 70 degrees and a hint of Spring hung in the air. It was one of those days, for me, when I just feel like a diva. I found myself walking around a local outdoor shopping center with a little more "spring" in my step. With my flowy dress, fab Gucci sunglasses (I splurge because they're prescription) and high heeled boots, I felt like a movie star! I went shopping and it was ALSO one of those days where I loved everything I tried on!

Thinking about my mood, I am convinced that is the combination of the two holidays today that did the trick. The first is Purim, a Jewish celebratory holiday that celebrates freedom from destruction for the Jews in ancient Persia.  It is a day of feasting and partying and is often celebrated by dressing up in costume and giving charity to those less fortunate (kind of the opposite of Halloween, you dress up and leave charity at the door - the costume ensures that you remain anonymous). The heroine of the Purim story is Queen Esther. Esther was only allowed to see her husband, the king when he summoned her. The punishment for disobeying this command was death. However, she went against to decree in order to appeal to her husband King Ahasuerus. She asked him to spare the Jewish people from the plan an evil man named Haman had to persecute them. Her success saved the Jewish people, and for that, she is considered a brave, heroic woman. That brings me to the second holiday of the day, International Women's Day.

According to the International Women's Day Website, "International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies...IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers." Hmmm...why haven't the men here caught on?!

So, in honor of these two holidays, I created a card in honor of Queen Esther, a brave, heroic historical figure who just happens to be honored on the same day as a holiday that celebrates women as a community! I made another easel card, but this time I used my Cricut Once Upon a Princess cartridge and some more of that fab SEI Couture stack too!

Hope you enjoyed my little "lesson" of the day, and the card. Happy crafting!
Panda Hugs!
J-
Glitter Panda

Fishing you a Happy Birthday!

Yesterday morning, I came downstairs to find my almost 9 year old, Cubby, watching TV. I am slightly embarrassed to say that he is usually indulging in a Spongebob episode that he has already seen 1000 times. Yesterday, however, he was watching Sports Center! I don't know why, but the idea of my baby watching sports on TV made me exceptionally emotional. I know it seems silly, but they REALLY do grow up quickly.

If you follow my blog (or stop by from time to time) you probably remember my friend who inspired me to begin my "Year of Holiday Cards" project. Well, her birthday is tomorrow and I felt it only appropriate to make he something special to celebrate. I decided that she would be the recipient of my very first easel card. With the help of an online tutorial by Splitcoaststampers, I was able to complete my task!! Thanks to them for the easy to follow instructions! I don't have a stamp that works with a fishy birthday card, so I came up with "Fishing" You a Happy Birthday! I printed it out from my computer and cut it out with my Recollections scallop punch. I thought it looked lonely as one layer, so I added two more scallops behind it in a staggered arrangement, and that also served to let the easel card rest against it.

Panda Hugs!
J-

Recipe

Easel Card Base

Piece of plain purple Recollections card stock 4 1/4" x 8 1/2" - score at 4 1/4" and 6 3/8"

Fold in half and then fold the small section in the opposite direction

With the small section up, add adhesive and attach a 4 1/4" x 4/14" card from the top of the section

 

The video from Splitcoaststampers helped me to understand exactly what to do, so definitely check it out! 

Top card

I cut the frame for this card from the SEI Crafts Couture stack at 4 1/4" and used the same cut I did for my Shadow Box Card.  The fishbowl and fish are both from the Cricut Create a Critter cartridge. <Fishbowl> is the shift cut and I set it to 2" and used layers 1, 2 and 3 on the shift as well. <Fish> is cut at 1" and it is the regular cut. I used layers 1-3 for this as well. I added Stickles to the middle of the fish to make it stand out. The sand layer for the bowl was cut with the the glitter paper in the Mariposa mat stack. After I assembled the bowl, I added the fish with a pop up glue dot and then the bowl was added to the card with pop up glue dots as well. I added 2 sizes of light green Recollections crystals to look like bubbles coming out of the fish's mouth. Finally, I added three Recollections pearls to the card for an extra touch.

Bottom card

I added a white square cut at 4" x 4" and a lavender on top cut to 3 3/4". After I added the white, I taped a piece of Offray 7/8" Sunburst Rainbow ribbon to the lavender piece and taped it with Scotch tape under the piece. Then I used adhesive to place it on top. I added the 3 scallop sentiment on top of it using dimensionals.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Getting Cricky with K Andrews - Argh Matey! Use a Pirate or Fish
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #46 - Birthday Card with Sentiment
For Your Inspiration Challenge #25 - inspired by the water and the round domes on the buildings