"I'm Nuts About You" Squirrel Valentine's Day card

Hello Crafters!

No, there is no need to check the banner across the top of the blog- it is Kathy Jo's blog.  I know, I hardly ever color on my cards but this cute-as-a-button squirrel stamp by Northwoods Rubber Stamps called me out at the craft store and said "Buy me!  I need a happy crafty home!" Really, how can you say no to this squirrel?

The image was stamped on watercolor paper and colored in with pencils and gamsoled.  It was die cut using Spellbinders' Classic Squares and gold trim applied.  Next a piece of paper was die cut and distress inked using Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo.  Gold applied again.   Spellbinders Heart Squares was used to die cut patterned paper from My Mind's Eye's Heirloom paper pad.  Two more sheets from the pad were cut to size and Vintage Photo applied along the edge.  It was all mounted on a tent fold Kraft card.  Finishing touch was Stickles applied to the flowers.

It felt strange to not add bling, ribbon, lace, and a big bow but this card will be given to my husband.  I wanted it to be sweet but not girly.  I think he will like it.  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo 

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Simply Create, Too, Valentine's Day
Crafting from the Heart, AG
Simon Says Wednesday, AG
My Sheri Crafts, Valentine's Day
Time Out Challenges, Valentine's Day with a heart
Pile it On, Hearts and or flowers
Word Art Wednesday, AG

CAS Made in Minutes butterfly card

Hi Paper Peeps!

Yay- it is Friday! I am always happy when Friday rolls around.  It has nothing to do with my job because I actually enjoy my job and the people I work with are very nice.  I am always happy for Friday because it means that on the weekend I can spend time with my hubby, furry family, friends...and play in the craft room.  Weekends rock.  :)

On Monday, the lovely ladies at the Kraft Journal announced their new challenge: CAS made in minutes.  Very interesting challenge.  I was thinking of it last night when I finished a card and started to clean up my crafting mess.  I knew it was close to bed time so that meant that I really would need to make it in minutes.  I grabbed some blank kraft cards that I had sitting aside.  Next I went to my bin of dies and dry embossed scraps:

I swooped in and took out the ivory butterfly and the dry embossed flower paper.  Next, some scrap gold ribbon was pulled into the mix.  (please pardon the poor photo color- the light in my craft room has a blue hue)

I quickly adhered it all to the card, added gold pearls and an old metal embellishment that I had "re-found" the day before.  Voila!  The card came together in a snap.  I even had time to add Stickles on the flowers!

Funny, it was a quick card but I like how it turned out!  Wish I had more of the floral paper (or maybe I do in that bin?).  If I have more paper, I would like to place a sheet of ivory paper under the patterned paper for more pop and to bring out the butterfly.  Will have to look for more of it and make it again!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Kraft Journal, Quick CAS
Simon Says Stamp, AG

"The heart has its reasons" card

 

Hellllooooo Crafters!

Yes, this is my fourth post this week.  After CHA I was a little quiet with project posts because I was catching up on sleep and because I caught a silly cold.  Alas, I am all better now and have finally been able to play in the craft room!  Most of the playing has been with Quietfire's newly released stamps.  Today I am sharing a quick card I made using "The heart has its reasons" stamp:

Originally, I had different plans for this stamp.  I envisioned lots of layers with a big juicy satin bow and some gold bling.  However, I decided to really show off the stamp and have it on a plain white die cut against black paper.  The sentiment definitely stands out on the card!

The heart is beautiful and I did not want that lost, either.  After the sentiment was stamped, Tattered Angels' Glimmer Glam in Big Apple was applied to the heart.  When it was dry, Stickles' Xmas Red was applied along the outside of the heart.

The black tent fold base was die cut using Spellbinders' A2 Curved Matting Basics.  Next,  black patterned paper (Basic Grey's Little Black Dress) was die cut using Spellbinders' A2 Floral Ribbon Threader.  The sentiment was die cut using Curved Matting Basics.  

I thought about giving this card to my husband on Valentine's Day but I was not sure if the double bow made the card too "fru-fru".  Darn!  Looks like I will have to play in my craft room again!  ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you all have a great day!  
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

'The future is uncertain because Love changes everything" Graphic 45 card

Hello Crafters!

Today is my day to post at Quietfire Creations (Yay!) and I used the newly released stamp sentiment "The Future is Uncertain":

It seemed logical to use the sweet sentiment with Graphic 45's paper collection, Sweet Sentiments.  :)  Also used on the card were Spellbinders' Gold Circles One die and Cheery Lynn's French Pastry Doily die.

For more details, please hop on over to the Quietfire Creations blog!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday!
Big Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Cheery Lynn, AG with a Cheery Lynn die
613 Avenue Create, (patterned paper, die cut, glossy accents, flowers, ribbon)
Word Art Wednesday, AG
Loves Rubber Stamps, Pink
Craft Hoarders Anonymous, January Challenge, Hoarded items are the Sweet Sentiments paper and the seam binding, Column items are: ink, seam binding, die cutting, dry embossing, flowers

"Good friends are like snowflakes" Graphic 45 pop up card

Hi All!

Today I am fortunate to be a guest designer (A Step Sister!) at The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge blog!  This post is bittersweet as it is the last guest design post with them.  It has been an honor to share a blog entry with the team.  They are all so talented and creative!  Plus, they are all very nice. (Big hugs to my Step Sisters!)

The new challenge at the Sisterhood of Crafters is called "Let it snow".  The challenge is to use snowflakes on your project.  For the project I used Quietfire's "Good Friends are Like Snowflakes" stamp:

Also, for the first time I made a pop up card.  Talk about fun!  You all will see another pop up card soon on this blog.  :)

The paper is from Graphic 45's Nutcracker Sweet.  The snowflakes and ballerina's were fussy cut and Stickles were applied.

Foam tape was used under the lovely ladies to add a little pop to the project...

Thanks again to my Step Sisters for having me as a guest the past three challenges!  It has been great!

I hope to see your snowflake project at The Sisterhood of Crafters!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday, AG
Crafting from the Heart, AG
Aud Sentiments, AG with sentiment
Love to Scrap, AG
Craftin' Desert Divas, AG 3D
Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper, January AG

Thank you card and Blog Hop Winner!

Happy Monday!

A big THANK YOU to everyone that left the oh-so-sweet comments for last week's blog hop!  Unfortunately only one winner could be picked from each blog...but don't fret as we will have more blog hops and I have three giveaways coming up soon on my blog!  Woo-who!

Random Generator picked the winner this time and it chose Adziamar:

adziamarJanuary 19, 2015 at 7:08 AM

AMAIZING CARD, SO BEAUTIFUL

Congratulations!! Adziamar, please leave a comment on this post or on the Quietfire Blog post.

It didn't seem right to post without a Thank You card for everyone that commented.  Of course I used a beautiful Quietfire Thank You stamp. This stamp is from the Floral Thank You set:

The white tent fold card base had the following layers from the bottom up: gold paper, blue shimmery card stock embossed using Spellbinders Ornate Labels One, white card stock die cut using Luscious Labels one and white card stock die cut using Labels One.  Thank you was heat embossed in gold and gold was applied along the perimeter of the die cut.  A simple sheer sating bow was assembled as shown.

Thanks again for all of the lovely comments!  Stay tuned for more giveaways and thanks for stopping by!

Big Hugs!

Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create, AG

Word Art Wednesday, AG

TTCRD, AG

Sister Act, AG
Cut it up, Embossing
Tuesday Throwdown, Embossing

Quietfire Queen of Hearts Blog Hop

 

Welcome to the Quietfire Design Queen of Hearts Blog Hop!

Thank you so much for stopping by and participating in the hop!  The Quietfire team has been looking forward to this week and we hope you enjoy the hop as much as we do!  Here is my contribution to the hop:

The card is using the newly released Quietfire stamp "The best kiss":

I love the sentiment because it reminds me of my husband- we were best friends before we started dating and I often wondered about his kiss.  :)

The card details: a white tent fold card was die cut using Spellbinders Majesty dies. Red card stock was die cut using the largest die from the set.  White card stock was die cut using the largest two dies from the set.  Next, I die cut a lace heart from Spellbinders' die set Lace Hearts.  It was double heat embossed using gold embossing powder.  The lovely sentiment was heat embossed onto white card stock and fussy cut around the sentiment.  Finally, a double bow was made from satin/sheer red ribbon and adhered as shown.

Here is our Blog Hop Schedule and the dates each designer will be posting (Click on each person's name to go to their blog):

Jan 19 - Kathy Jo and Diana

Jan 20 - Sherry and Yogi
Jan 21 - Yvonne and Teresa 

Jan 22 - Wanda and Robyn 

Jan 23 - Suzanne 

For a chance to win a Quietfire rubber stamp (Don’t be shy!) leave a comment below before midnight Sunday January 25th, 2015. A winner will be randomly chosen from my list of comments and the winner's name will be posted on Quietfire Creations shortly afterwards. If you haven't done so already, go back and leave comments on all the designers Queen of Hearts blog posts!  

 Good Luck! 

Queen of Hearts Blog Hop at Quietfire this week!

Happy Sunday!

How has your weekend been?  Yesterday I played with some goodies I received at CHA.  It was such a mess in my craft room that I had to play with the goodies on the kitchen table.  Yes, that's right- I did not want to clean the room!  Today guilt took over and I reluctantly cleaned it.  Why is always fun to make a mess but not to clean it?  It seems that I have not changed since childhood.  LOL.  A positive result of cleaning the space meant that I could make a Valentine's Day card using a newly released Quietfire stamp.  However, I cannot show you all until tomorrow because it will be part of the Quietfire Queen of Hearts Blog Hop!  

All week the designers at Quietfire will showcase a project using one of the gorgeous, newly released Quietfire Valentine's Day/Love stamps.  Hop on to each blog and leave a comment.  Doing so will enter your name into the draw to win a stamp.  Each blog has a winner, too!  I will post all of the details and the links tomorrow!

_____________________________

I can't believe I did not post this earlier: the very talented and sweet designer and owner of Quietfire Designs, Suzanne Cannon, has her card on the cover of Card Maker magazine!  Check this out!  

Beautiful card!! Is that not fantastic or what?!  Congrats, Suzanne!

I had better let you all go for now!  Thanks for stopping by, have a great Sunday and I hope to see your comment tomorrow!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

"A Baby Is Such A Beautiful Way" card

 

Hello Fellow Crafters!

After several posts from CHA, I am finally posting a crafty project.  :)  The crafty project is a baby card using Quietfire Design's sweet baby stamp "A Baby is Such a Beautiful Way":

Told you it was sweet!

The tent fold card base was made from ivory linen card stock and Spellbinders' A2 Modern Stationary.  A piece of pastel pink card stock was dry embossed using Cuttlebug's Gingham set.  Quietfire's baby stamp was stamped on ivory linen card stock using Memento's Rich Cocoa.  It was cut and embossed using one of the dies from Modern Stationary.  Before it was removed from the die, I applied Spun Sugar along the edges.  A wee bow was made from linen ribbon and a strip of linen ribbon was adhered to the card using Zip Dry adhesive.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope your weekend will be wonderful with some crafty time!
Hugs,
Kathy Jo

This card is entered into the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create, AG
Word Art Wednesday, AG
Craft-Dee Bowz, AG with bow
TTCRD, AG
In the Pink, AG with pink
Loves Rubber Stamps, Not stamped in black

CHA Recap- Final post- Warning! Lots of photos of various products and projects

Happy Friday!

I can't believe it was a week ago today that I went to Day 1 of CHA.  The whole weekend flew by!

Today will be my last CHA post.  It will be filled of product and project photos from the show.  Let's jump right into it!

There were some amazing Swarovski and beaded projects on display.  This bird was blinged to the nines:

The bird was on the arm of this beauty...crystals ran up the horns!:

Went gaga over the necklace below!

This was the top part of a dress...magnificent!

Some stamps drew me in, too!  Art Impressions had some cuties:

Penny Black had some wonderful watercolor stamps:

Imagine Crafts was showing off their very cool Creative Medium.  Shimmery metallic paste that is visible on light and dark papers.

I am digging the new Zutter All tool.  It even has a brayer!!

 Scrapbook Adhesives had a fun Make and Take.  It included the ribbon below (please pardon the poor photo quality).  It is a soft jean material...loved it!  

 And here is a grainy photo of the cute as a button Donna Salazaar:

 Of course I spied another die that I liked.  The Elizabeth Craft Heart Pivot Die.  

Stampers Anonymous has so many great stamps!  Here are a couple of my faves from Brett Weldele

 The cats are a must have for me!

 Now, for those of you that have access to the UK's magazine Papercraft Inspirations, you will recognize the next two dies.  The dies were showcased in Issue 130 (October 2014).  Tracy Payne made some gorgeous cards using the dies and I have liked the dies ever since!

 

 I was able to snap a photo of Tim Holtz while demonstrating:

 Big surprise...another die set.  I liked this one because of the sweet embossing folder and the nautical theme:

 Now this product is totally rockin'.  A holster to house your glue gun...even if it is hot!

 

 I know I discussed Faber-Castell in a previous post but I forgot to show this photo.  A studio set.  Drool.  Drool.  Drool.

 7 Gypsies is offering new pad sets.  The cowgirl set below had Sherry Cheever's attention!  Not only are the patterns great but there is also fabric such as canvas and suede in the set!  Yee-haw!!

Thanks for making it through this long post!  As you can tell from this post and the prior posts, I had the best time at CHA!  I would like to go again.  I already figured out my budget and how much I have to save every pay in order to attend next year!  :)

Fireworks from Disney

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Hugs,

Kathy Jo