ABC Friday~Back To Basics, Mom Update and The CHA Pics I Saved For Last…

Posted by Jen | ABC Friday, Bella, MFT, Verve, articles, projects, random ramblings | Friday, February 15, 2008

The first portion of this post can also be seen on the Verve Visual blog. Check in there for more Back To Basic projects over the next few days.

When Julee first told us about the Back to Basics series on the Verve blog, I have to admit that I was a bit apprehensive. What project would I do? Basic…what is the definition of basic? So, I looked through some of my older projects when I did not have a lot to work with and went from there.
I took my creative self to “Remember When…” and this is the creative process journey that I experienced.
First things first, what was I going to do? I decided to do an alterable item. These days I pick up alterables just about wherever I go, but when I first started stamping/paper crafting, I worked solely with what I had. A glass jar, such as this Frappucino bottle is alway fairly simple to come by, so I grabbed one out of my collection as a starting point.
Next, what color scheme did I want to do. Think about it…when you first started stamping, what was the ONE color pad that you got initially? Black, of course. To go with that black ink pad, you probably had some basic colors of paper as well. At one point, I only had black, white and red, so that is what I chose as the overall color scheme here.
I had my project piece and my color scheme, so it was time to pick my stamp set out. Flowers, of course! Black and red flowers, you ask? Yep! Now was the time to get to work and make it work. This is what I came up with…
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I did use some of my more current tools (punches), but made sure that this project could be done with no tools, except scissors. I created the scallop edge with my corner rounder punch. This could be done with scissors if you do not have the punch. I wrapped black twill ribbon around the center, which could be replaced with black paper. This also holds true for the ribbon around the edge of the cap. The small red matting square adds a punch of colors with minimal use of product, something that I still find very important. To complete the project, I filled it with Hershey nuggets. I wanted a plain silver look for the candies, so I left them in their “basic” form without fancy labels.
While I was apprehensive about this when I started, I must admit that it was fun to take a look back at where I started and where I am and meld those into a project.

Mom Update:
I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support! You are all so wonderful!! THANK YOU!!! My mom successfully underwent a double mastectomy yesterday. They did not find anymore cancer in the lymph nodes. I spoke with her in the evening and she sounded a bit groggy from the meds, but overall in good spirits despite the day’s happenings. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers; they mean so much to me and my family.

It’s always better to save the best for last. The best thing at the CHA show wasn’t the sunny SoCal skies, the paper, the stamps, the inspiration, the stars…it was the real people that I met and hung out with!! I am not even going to try and make a list because we would be here until next month. There aren’t any pics of the Paper Pretties girls, tho {boo!!} They were really very sweet and fun to hang with.

Here are a *few* pics…

Me with Alli and Sherrie…
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Alma of The Cat’s Pajamas and Kim of MFT {’tinis anyone?} ;)
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Back Row: Alli and Sherrie
Center: Emily {THE EMILY from Staming Bella!!}, Kim, Nicky {waving Hi to Nicky!!!}, Alma, Me, Jamie {waving still}
Front: Carole {of course she would be front and center ;)} and Christy {MFT illustrator}
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Yes, Julie is just as cute in person!!! THE JulieHRR!!!
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Jami, Mary Jo, Carole, Taylor, Me, Jenn
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Kim and Me at the show {LOVE this pic!!!}
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The Bella chicas and Me {Hey, Em, don’t look too cheery! ;) }
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Gettin’ down and dirty with the Dirty Dozen {past and present} gals…
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Bella Bauble Boo Boo Kit…

Posted by Jen | ABC Friday, Bella, projects | Friday, February 8, 2008

YAY…It’s FRIDAY!!! This is the Friday that I have been waiting for!! As you read this, I am probably 30,000 miles in the air on my way to sunny Southern California for CHA!! I will have my camera and laptop with me and will begin reporting to you from CHA on either Sunday or Monday. For today, I still have my ABC {Anything But A Card} project for you and tomorrow I will have another great {well, in my opinion} Sketch For You To Try.
About a week ago as I was fumbling through the oodles of embellishments that I have, I kept coming back to my Bella Baubles. I **knew** that I wanted to do something cute and clever with them. I came up with the idea for the BELLA BAUBLE BOO-BOO KIT. Cute, huh? So I began {without adhesive} putting them on a Johnson & Johnson travel first aid kit that I had picked up a long time ago for 99cents at Wal-Mart or Target. Truth be told, it was taking a lot of baubles to cover my Bella Bauble Boo Boo Kit. Being that I am hoarding my baubles, using almost half a package on one project was going to send me over the edge!! I remember Lauren {you, enabler you} showing that she picked up some cheapy baubles at Michael’s. These baubles are different. They are bigger and not quite as shiny, but weren’t going to send me into a straight jacket for using so many at once. {{Sidenote Question…Can anyone relate with me about hoarding stuff like this??}}. Alas, the {would be} Bella Bauble Boo Boo Kit was born. So, why doesn’t it say Boo Boo Kit on it? Answer: It didn’t fit with the means that I had. I have Cuttlebug alphas, Cricut alphas and stickers and none of them fit. I could have just stamped it, but I wanted a little more “UMPH.” I worked with what I had, and this is what I came up with. So what, there aren’t actually Bella Baubles on it, and it doesn’t say “Boo Boo Kit,” but it’s still the Bella Bauble Boo Boo Kit to me!!
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I have also seen these altered to hold candy and mini cards…waaaay cuuuute!!! See y’all tomorrow for another SFYTT!!!

AND…if you didn’t see it already, check out my Online Bonus for PaperCrafts Magazine HERE.

ABC Friday!…

Posted by Jen | ABC Friday, PaperTrey | Friday, February 1, 2008

Last Friday was part of my week of Anything But A Card {ABC}, so I guess I can call this one the first official ABC Friday. YAY!! Earlier this week I ran over to Hobby Lobby to pick up a replacement ink pad and happened to wander into their plastic container dept. I love containers. Big, small, round, square…you name it. I found these cute little plastic containers for 67 CENTS!! A container, something that I can alter and fill AND under a buck. My heart was all a flutter!! So I picked up a few and came home and got to work. I have about a gazillion ideas in my head for these, but this is the first one that made it to production. BTW-This bottle holds almost a whole bag of Red Hots!! The sentiment is from PaperTrey and is on a small scallop oval {the yellow Marvy one} punch. The puffy felt heart is also from Hobby Lobby. I picked those up a while ago when the Valentine’s stuff first started to arrive. The bottle top is exactly 1 inch, so a one inch punched circle fit perfectly.
See you here tomorrow for another Sketch For You To Try and the announcement of February’s Guest Designer, who will be playing along on each of Feb.’s sketches. YAY!!
***Also, if you are interested in being a Verve Guest Designer, be sure to see the post from yesterday!!!***
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Day Five~Anything But A Card…

Posted by Jen | ABC Friday, Ellie, projects | Friday, January 25, 2008

Welcome to DAY 5 of this week’s Anything But A Card posts. I have had so much fun doing this and have had such a wonderful response I have decided to dedicate a day each week to Anything But A Card {ABC}. From here on out, Fridays will be know as ABC Friday. Consider your self warned! ;) I’ll be including all different kinds of projects, some commentary and, of course, Ellie pics. Speaking of my very sweet Ellie…we got her most recent professional pics the other day. When we were picking them up the lady asked if I could sign a copyright release so that they could display her pictures in their book AND in a frame in the studio!! Of course I said YES! This is actually the SECOND time that they have asked to display her pictures in their book, but the first time she is getting a spot in the studio. Can you say ‘PROUD MAMA’!?! So on Fridays, you may have to deal with a little doting as well. Again, consider yourself warned.
Today is Stamp Camp and we are focusing on Valentine’s projects. I’m a little Valentined out, so I am pressing the fast forward button and temporarily moving onto East projects. Tony got up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday and got me a Cricut. So far I haven’t used it too terribly much, but I can say that I absolutely ADORE the Bags, Tags and Boxes cartridge. This project is made with the nut cup {that’s just plain fun to say!}. I used the Good Egg set from SU! and added some bling bling {who me??} with Swarovski crystals and Making Memories rhinestone brads. The ribbon is from SU! and ribbonsandbowsohmy.com.
I’ll be back tomorrow with another project and of course my Sketch For You To Try. I am doing my best to comment on everyone’s cards, but am a little behind. I assure that I have looked at all of them and love what you all are doing with the sketches!!
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Here’s Ellie playing a little Peek-A-Boo from inside her very own kitchen cabinet…you know the one that’s filled with all the tupperware and whatever other toys find their way in their via kid.
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And, a few of her with her Sunday donut {or “doh-doh” as she says}.
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