Stampin! with Jaydee

What's at the feeder

Hi Everyone.  Happy Wednesday.

I am SO glad that it is Wednesday and that it is almost a long weekend!

I don't have a card for you tonight, but wanted to do a quick update and show you some photographs of what has been visiting our garden.

I was on a conference call the other day and heard a thump.  I hate that sound.  It's the sound of a bird connecting with one of the windows.  We have put up all sorts of devices, lights in the widows, decals to break up the windows - placed about every 8 inches.  Pulled the curtains.  Just about everything we can do to stop it.  However, occasionally, one of them will think there is still somewhere to go.  This time, the sound was different.  It was a heavy thud. 

I excused myself, threw down the phone and rushed to the deck to check on whoever it was.  Well, imagine my surprise when I saw this!

Yep... a young Coopers Hawk (or a young Sharp Shinned Hawk - its almost impossible to tell them apart!)

What I think had happened was that he was chasing a little bird, the bird had made an exit stage left or right at the last minute, and pumpkin head here didn't move fast enough!   Luckily he was perfectly fine and flew off not two minutes later.   He really is rather gorgeous!  You can tell from the look on his face he was thinking.... what on earth just happened?  It was thrilling to see him and thrilling that he was OK!

Then, a little while later, I caught sight of the ground squirrel rushing along on his way somewhere.  Today, I saw two of them!

Well, y'all know that we love birds, right? :-)   I've been looking for something to fill the wall off the entrance hall.  I was looking online at a shopping site I found and saw something that I immediately fell in love with.  I didn't just want it.... I NEEDED it.  You girls know the difference. :-)   My mother always used to tell me that if I saw something I thought I wanted, walk away from it - preferably for the night - and if I still felt the same way about it in the morning, that meant I wanted it - and was less of an impulse.  Well... with this... I don't think I waited more than about 20 seconds to decide I wanted it!

Isn't that awesome?   I love the way the light from the entrance hall causes the shadows behind the birds.  I also love that it adds so much visual interest from the entrance hall, from the great room and when we go up and down the stairs.   I also love that it fills a large space and yet leaves so much space.   I was VERY happy with it!  It's so simple, yet so stunning.  Well, I think so anyway!

This is what it looks like from the other direction - in normal daylight

It makes me happy just looking at it!

Well, our final piece of furniture arrived today.  As we had to change out the sofa - and the matching chair - we had to go with whatever we could get in a reasonable amount of time.  The sofa and chair are not the shape, color or size that we had originally intended.   Now I know why we didn't choose these ones in the first place.   IT IS HUGE.  I mean SERIOUSLY HUGE.  It's ENORMOUS.  I think I have to build an extension just to house the chair!!!!!  We hadn't been able to see one in the store and the designer told us it was just a LITTLE bigger than the original one.   Well... I suppose it is a LITTLE bigger, if you classify almost double the size as a LITTLE bigger.  Everytime I go into the great room I laugh.  I swear it's like Cyrano de Bergerac - or maybe Pinocchio.... I think the chair gets bigger everytime I look at it :-)   In fact, you could hold a soiree on the chair alone!  Well... at least we have a chair :-)  Tomorrow. I'm going to have to think about what we are going to do with it:-)   I know one thing, Lou is going to love it because it is so big and so comfortable.

So, what have you bought and when you got it home you realized you absolutely LOVED it.... or not so much?   From my post today - you know I love the bird scultpure... but the chair not so much!

I'd love to hear from you, so why don't you leave me a message and let me know what you loved or didn't love so much after you bought it!

As always, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.  Special prayers for Ivor, Ruth Ann and Ann.

Have a beautiful Thursday

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Peace for CAS-UAL Fridays

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday night.

Quick post for you tonight.  I made this card for the banner challenge across at Cas-ualfridays.  

I wanted to use a banner and knew that I had to make it a pretty hefty banner.   I thought that a Christmas card where the sentiment and the banner are the highlight of the card, was exactly what I needed to do.

No other blue goes with the silver glimmer paper like Night of Navy.  It is such a rich navy.  I tried this with Midnight Muse, but it is just too muted. Here's what I came up with

I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the background.   The peace was cut from a die from PTI.  SU's glimmer paper is just perfect for this sort of card.  It really is so beautifully glittery and shiny when you see it in real life.

Well, Lou is out of town again!  So, I am off to do a few things around the house.  More goodies arrived today.  In fact, our UPS man said to me "You must be nearly finished with furniture and stuff by now, right?"  Errrrrr.   almost :-)

Now, I need to go do some unpacking, some re-arranging, feed the cats, finish up a couple of things for work and then get myself some food.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.  Prayers for Ivor, Ruth Ann and Ann.

Have a teriffic Tuesday

Hugs

Jaydee

Autumn Hills for Casestudy

Hi Everyone.  Happy Sunday.

I hope you are having a great weekend.   Me.   Well, I got to spend some time in my crafting room today.  Lou.... well, he got to spend time painting our guest bedroom.  You wouldn't believe that we had just moved into a brand new house and this is the third room poor Lou has painted!  He really has been amazing about my requests and I am very grateful!

Casestudy is having a great challenge at the moment to celebrate their blog hop.  I haven't been able to play along the last couple of weeks as I have spent so little time in my craft room.  However, I did make two cards for the challenge this week.

This week the challene is to CASE a casestudy player card..... Now... there are some amazing submission cards, for so many challenges, that I felt like a child in a candy store with so many yummy things to choose from.

I decided to start in July and go backwards.  Well, I didn't have to go back very far before I found the card that I wanted to CASE.  An amazing card from Maureen Merritt jumped out at me from all of the thumbnails.  When I opened the link - I found that Maureen had actually cased the talented Debby Hughes.  So it was a jackpot for me to be able to CASE from both of these talented ladies.  You can find Debby's original card here and you can find Maureen's CASE here.  Both gorgeous cards from two very talented ladies.   

I took the bark element from Debby's original card and made that my background layer.  I also took the polka dot and banner idea from Maureen's card.   I totally changed out the color scheme to a fall card.   Here's what I came up with

 I really love the layout of this card and was very inspired by both Debby and Maureen.  If you haven't checked out the challenge across at casestudy - you really should - and play along, too!

I love the rich warm hues of the card.  I can honestly say that I had not realized what a fabulous card stock Naturals Ivory is.  I think this is probably only the third card I have made using this.  But, it is gorgeous.  I used one of my few non-SU stamp sets - Autumn Hills from Papertrey Ink.  The background was embossed with my new SU embossing folder.  (Available in the holiday mini.)

So, what do you think?  I'm sure you can see the inspiration and I hope you pop along to both Debby and Maureen's blogs.  If you haven't checked out these two blogs yet, you really need to.

On a personal note:

Several of you have asked for pics of the inside of the house.  I promise that as soon as we are ready, I will show you some pics of the inside. :-)

In the meantime, here are a couple of visitors to our feeders today

I was standing on the deck - near the hummer feeder  - and suddenly heard this buzzing noise.  He was about 1 foot from my head looking at me - because I was in his space and he wanted to eat.   So, I walked about 6 feet away - and he decided it was safe enough and came in for a drink!

Then, our SUGARPECKER... yep.... we no longer call him a woodpecker!  came in for a drink.  When I uploaded the photo, I realized that the female Rose breasted Grosbeak was also in the shot.  She was coming in for a little bit of Grape Jelly.

Lou and I are thrilled, and amazed, that we have managed to keep the grosbeaks, the orioles and the bluebirds around all summer.  We are so blessed.

As always... thank you to all of you for your visits - and a huge thank you to those of you who leave a comment.  Lou and I both really enjoy reading them.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a lift tonight.  Special prayers for Ruth Ann, Ivor and Ann.

Have a beautiful Monday

Hugs

Jaydee

Paper Players Challenge #110 - LeAnne's Sketch

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday.

Here's LeAnne's fabulous sketch this week.  We hope you will join us at the Paper Players and play along

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I have my Paper Players card ready!   It took me FOREVER to make a card.  Seriously.  There is so much that I should be doing around the house - now that we have FURNITURE!!!!  (yes, Terri - we do have furniture!)  The last couple of days have been spent running around unpacking boxes, moving furniture and trying to get everything in its place. 

All the time that I was trying to make a card today, my mind was running through the list of things I have to do and was absolutely not on my card.  My desk is normally really clean when I work.  If I take out a stamp, I clean it and put it away the minute I'm finished stamping.  Scissors are immediately put back in their holder.  Inks are always put away the minute I have stamped.  Paper packed away in my drawer. Handle it, use it, pack it... that's usually my motto.

When my mind is off somewhere else.... well, my desk ends up as chaotic as my mind.  Today, I eventually had to stand back because I was getting nowhere.  I stood back and this is what my desk looked like.  Call it Tornado Alley!

No wonder I couldnt get a card finished.  I started 3 cards.  It was crazy.  I knew that I had to clean the entire thing.  Put everything away and finish the 3rd card I had started.   It took me 2.5 hours to get my desk into this mess and about 5 minutes to clean it.   Only when it was nice and clean and everything back in its place could I concentrate on finishing the card.

Here's what I came up with for LeAnne's fabulous sketch

In the end... I was really pleased with it.   I love that LeAnne allowed us to choose the shape for the middle focal element. 

I love my glimmer paper, but hate wasting it.  So, because I needed a border that was 5 1/4 x 4 - I really didnt want to waste all of the fabulous glimmer behind the white layer.   This is what I did.

I cut a piece to fit under my white layer.  Then I took my craft knife and cut out the middle.  Leaving me enough to add gluestrip so that I could mount the white layer on the glimmer paper border.  The nice big piece, that would have been hidden under the white layer, is now available to use with something else.

Don't forget to check out the design team member blogs.  It's amazing how each one of us has done something totally different with this sketch.

                                                               Jen Arkfeld 

Dawn Easton
Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

On a personal note:

It's wonderful to actually have some furniture.  Only a couple of pieces are missing.  We did have to compromise on the couch and the dining chairs, but, at least we have something to sit on.  The cats certainly approve of the new couch.  Chester (our tortured rescue cat) thinks he is in heaven.  Within 10 minutes of the couch arriving, three of the cats were stretched out fast asleep.  Bailey... well... he's just not a couch guy.

This was his first sleeping place

He was out for the count.  He was fast asleep.   Then I moved that box into the garage.  So, he found the next one.  This one, however, was a weeeeeee bit smaller than the last!

How did such a big cat fit into that tiny box?  He carried on doing this until all the boxes were emptied and put into the garage!

Want to see what was in our garden today?

There were actually three of them, but by the time I got my camera, we were down to 1.  But, this bluebird was having such a fun time in the bath!

One happy bluebird!   Which, of course, made me happy!

Oh... and want to see what my desk looks like now?

Now... that makes me happy, too!

Know what else would make me happy?  If you'd leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by.  :-)

Warm hugs and prayers to those of you who need a lift tonight.  RuthAnn, special prayers for you and your hubby.   Ann..... special prayers for you, your niece and your family.

Have a fabulous Sunday

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Card stock:  Whisper White, Gina K 110# Luxury White.  SU Glimmer Paper, Vellum
• Sentiment:  Papertrey Ink - In the Meadows
• Inks:  Stazon Black
• Tools:  Big Shot.  Sizzix Christmas Tree die

By the Seashore

Hi Everyone.  Happy Wednesday

Yay.... we are past the mid-way point in the week and the weekend is almost upon us... and we have furniture arriving tomorrow.   It's a great day :-)

I made a second card for the cas-ual fridays splish splash challenge.  I knew that I wanted to use one of my brand new sets - By the Seashore.  In case you missed this set in the new catalog - here's a quick view of it.

I love the realism in the sketches and have been waiting for an excuse to ink it up.  This challenge was the perfect time.  

I also realized that I tend to gravitate to placing my elements at the bottom of my card.  Mmmm... I decided it was time to spice things up a little.

I used Very Vanilla for the base and stamped the background elements in Crumb Cake.  The horizontal layer is Naturals Ivory, backed by Crumb Cake.  I stamped the final shell in Early Espresso ink, cut around it and popped it using dimensionals.  The sentiment is from Sweet Essentials.   The final touch was the linen thread.  I love the earthy neutrals of this card.

On a personal note:

You have heard the phrase "What can brown do for you?" Well.... I can tell you.......

He not only delivered the floor lamps and shades, but also new pillows and bedding!   The poor man in brown, it took him ages to get all of this out of his truck.  I was on a conference call and shouted thank you thru the window, and apologized that he had unloaded so many things.  He said not to apologize, cos it was people like us that provided job security :-)  It was great to see things finally arrive and I can't wait for the couch and chairs to arrive tomorrow!

Want to see what was visiting our garden today?

This little guy!

Let's get a closer look at him

Isn't he a cutie?  You can see his distinguishing yellow dot that runs between his beak and his eye.  there have been a few of them around for the last several days.  You can read all about him at the all about birds site here.

I also captured a pic of this little guy using our furniture as cover.  Sadly he was moving pretty quickly, so I coudn't get a great shot

Finally, and luckily not at our feeders :-)   I was lying in bed reading late last night and heard a pack of coyotes calling.  The cats pricked up their ears and decided it was best not to go near a window.  It really is a very eerie sound late at night.  The called and yipped for a good 5 minutes so my guess was that they had found themselves supper.  Like all predators, they are a very useful part of nature!

As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  I appreciate your visits and your comments.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Quite a Catch - Cas-ual Fridays

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.

I saw a great challenge across at cas-ual fridays this week.  Splish Splash!   A clean and simple card with something that you would find in, or around, the beach.  I couldn't wait to play along - and, in fact, I made two cards!

I don't have many non-SU stamp sets, but occasionally I am drawn to something that really catches my eye (if you will excuse the pun....)   This set from Gina K - Quite a Catch - is one of them.  I love the images and I love coloring them.   I pulled out my Stampin' Up! Chevron embossing folder, some Island Indigo, Pool Part and Very Vanilla card stock - and I was ready to go.

Isn't he cute?   I colored him using Copic markers and then cut around him.  I popped him up onto the horizontal chevron layer using dimensionals.  At first, I wasn't going to use the Island Indigo layer, but when I played around with it, it made his colors pop a little more.    Of course, a few rhinestones to imitate bubbles were a necessity :-)  You really should pop along to the cas-ual fridays blog and check out the great design team and inspiration cards.

On a personal note:

Yes!!!!! Furniture.  It's arriving!  Finally!  A couch, 4 dining chairs, an outdoor dining chair and a console.  Now.. it's the third time they have shipped the couch - and the 4th time they have said they are delivering the outdoor dining chair....but.... I have faith that they will arrive.  They are supposed to be arriving on Thursday.  That will make things pretty much complete and we can't wait to get them.  Well, technically we have been waiting over 4 months - but.... we think they will have been worth the wait.  At least Pam and John will now have something to sit on when they arrive... oh, yeah!  and so will we!

I have a quick photograph for you tonight... what was at the feeder when I popped out earlier today.

I have some great shots for you tomorrow of a visitor!

In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift.

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Friendly Phrases for Paper Players 109

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday.

Finally!  My Saturday card!  I got this card made late yesterday and wasn't able to photograph it and get it posted on either my blog, or the Paper Players blog!

The fabulous Anne Marie has a CAS challenge with a twist this week!

I don't have a lot of stamps that lend themselves to paper piecing.  Then I remembered a floral set that I have and decided to use that.

I stamped the image onto Whisper White card stock and then again onto a piece of Patio Party.  I cut out every second piece of the Patio Party flower and pieced it onto the Whisper White flower.  I then took my Pool Party marker and colored in the petals that I hadn't pieced.  I then cut around the flower and popped it onto my card base.  Here's what I came up with

I love this sentiment from Friendly Phrases.  Isn't it something that we wish everyone?  I also love the little hearts on the DSP.  The white layer needed some texture, so I pulled out my Fancy Fan embossing folder.   I like the way the scalloping on the edge of the Fancy Fans echoes the scalloped edges of the flower.  Now, I used Amuse Studio's Floral Duet for this, but Stampin' Ups! Fith Avenue Floral would work just as well.  All that was required, was a little bit of bling in the form of a blue rhinestone in the middle of the flower.  I don't generally use blue for flowers, but I really wanted to use this heart DSP.

Dont' forget to check out the fabulous design team cards - and then join us and play along.

Jen Arkfeld

Dawn Easton

Nance Leedy

Anne Marie Hile

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Amy White

On a personal note:

Well, we got a couple more things accomplished this weekend - Mirrors hung in the guest bathroom and a clock hung in Lou's office.  That was pretty much it in terms of jobs around the house!  We are never going to be ready for Pam and John's arrival at this rate!  The weather was truly glorious again this weekend.  It was, however, COLD this morning.  In the 40s!  I know just how cold it was at 5am as Lou was up to get ready to catch his flight.  It was really cold.  I thought I would share a photo of what was at the feeder when I stepped away from my office to update my blog.

Well.. what would you know.... as I uploaded the picture and looked at it closely, I realized there was an interloper there... or in this case a brown bird that I hadn't seen before.  If my research proves me right, this is a female Brewer's Blackbird.  Here she is along with the Goldfinch, Mourning Dove and the Downy Woodpecker.

I love the fact that we get the birds at the feeders, but what pleases me even more is the fact that they visit the wild grasses and flowers in the area behind the feeder.  In fact, they visit the seed heads in that area far more frequently than the feeders themselves.  We have had entire flocks of sparrows feeding off the seeds in the lot next to us this week.  It really confirms that we did the right thing by planting the native grasses around the edge of the garden.

The scene is constantly changing at the feeder - as you can see from the pic I took not 30 seconds later!   You can even see the birds flying in and out!

I was sitting out in the garden late on Sunday on our patio.  The birds didn't care about me at all.  They flew over me, around me.  It felt like I was sitting on the runway at Heathrow airport! :-)

Well, I am going to put on my runners and go for a walk.  It's a beautiful night to go walk around the block and shake the cobwebs out of my brain. :-)

As always, thank you for spending a little time in my area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate your visits.  Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a lift tonight - including Ivor.

Hugs

Jaydee

A little of this and a little of that....

Hi Everyone.

Happy Saturday.  I hope you are all having a great weekend.

I don't have a card for you tonight.  I haven't had a chance to get into my stamping room to make any cards this week - and I am late making my Paper Players card, too.  I'm hoping to get in and play tomorrow.

I thought I would share a few photos with you this evening.

We started off with a single tree frog.   Then there were two.  Now there are three.   Meet Frick, Frack and Fred.

They are on the window in the great room almost every night.  They are also known as the Kamikaze Frogs!  They take the most unbelievable leaps.  In fact, Lou was on the phone on Friday and decided to take the call on the deck.  He was standing against the front of the deck, leaning over, looking at the birds in the bird bath when, suddenly, something came flying past his ear and landed 14 feet below him on the ground.  No, it wasn't a bird.  It was a frog!!!  He must have leapt off the roof, or the siding - but he jumped the entire width of the deck, right past Lou's ear and 14 feet down.  He was OK, too!  Lou said he got the fright of his life!

The other afternoon I heard the Pileated's making a racket.  Now, if any of you have heard them, you will know that they are LOUD.  If you haven't been lucky enough to hear one, you can check the sound out on the Cornell site here.  I decided to go outside and check what was going on.  This is what I was thrilled to see

Isn't that awesome?  I watched - and listened - for a few minutes and then was blessed to see this

It was the most amazing sight.......

Now.... the tree frogs normally stay at the back of the house - where the trees are most prevalent - and the toads are at the front of the house.  They sit on the driveway close to the street light and the lights on the garage.   We were surprised to see this little guy sitting on our front door the other night.

We named him Bill and the toads that sit on the driveway - The Flower Pot Men.  You Brits will know what I mean by that :-)

The weather is still gorgeous.  Mind you, it got down into the 40s last night.  It's been up at around 80 during the day.  Very low humidity (sorry, Rach!), with a slight breeze.  Perfect weather.  It has, however, felt more like mid-September, than mid-August.  We have also noticed that the leaves are starting to turn.  Much earlier than we are accustomed to and we think that is probably to do with the fact that we are almost 2 hours further north than we used to be.

As always, thanks for spending time in my little area of the blogosphere.   Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Have a beautiful Sunday.

Hugs

Jaydee

Evergreen for Merry Monday

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!  Hope you are having a great week.

I have a quick post for you tonight. 

OK.... I couldn't resist the sketch across at Merry Monday - so I made another card.  I really love the fact that there is so much "white" space on this sketch - and that it is so versatile.

I pulled out a set I have recently acquired - and one that I was really excited about.  I can tell you, I was not disappointed by how beautiful this set is.

In case you missed my last post with the Merry Monday card - you can see the sketch below

This time, I turned it horizontally and I really couldn't get the sentiment on.  I wanted to add one stamped in vellum, but it just didn't work for me with the trees.  So, hopefully, Lesley will forgive me for not adding the sentiment :-)

I stamped the one tree twice using silver ink.  I then inked up the other tree and covered it with silver embossing powder.   Now... this is what is different.... generally I don't over-bake my embossing powder, because I hate to burn it.   However, this time, I went as far as I could to remove the melted embossing powder and I was left with this awesome "foil" effect.  I love it!

Here's a close-up

 

See what I mean?  I really think it does look like aluminum foil :-)

Of course, you are not surprised, right? - I had to fussy cut the tree and mount it on dimensionals.  I then added a little bling in the form of basic rhinestones along the bottom, and one on top.  I mounted the blue layer onto the glitter paper using dimensionals.   I love the card.

On a personal note.

Ah... I have a photo for you tonight.  It's a terrible pic.  But I hope you will forgive me.  Lou and I were thrilled when the bluebirds decided to nest in the woodpecker box.  Well, yesterday, three little baby bluebirds graced us with their presence.  I couldn't get a decent photo cos they kept moving.  BUT...... they made us so unbelievably happy.  It was a wonderful feeling to know that we had given a home to the bluebirds and that the offspring were paying us a visit!

Promise.... it really is a baby blue bird :-)  Talk about the bluebird of happiness..... these three made us VERY happy.

As always, thank you for stopping by my area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate it.  Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little love tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Card stock:  Midnight Muse, Glimmer Paper
• Stamps:  Evergreen
• Inks:  Silver
• Tools:  Embossing powder

 

Christmas Ribbon for Merry Mondays and Justusgirls

HI Everyone.  Happy Wednesday.

I have a quick post for you tonight.

I saw this awesome challenge across at justusgirls.  The challenge is to create a card and feature ribbon scraps.  Now, I don't know about you, but I often have little pieces left over and thing that I should keep them.  Now I know why!  It's for challenges like this!

Then, I needed a little inspiration in the form of a sketch.    Oh... and I saw this great sketch across at Merry Mondays.

I loved the blank spaces in this sketch and knew that I had to find a unique way to use my scraps with this sketch.  I decided to weave the ribbon pieces and then use them as a backing.  

here's what I came up with:

Isn't that cool?  I thought so.  I was really pleased with the way it turned out.  I think it would work really well with an ornament die, too.

Don't forget to pop along to Merry Mondays and to Justusgirls and check out the fabulous design team and inspiration cards.  I know you will find something that inspires you.

On a personal note:

Sorry, Rach... a little more bragging.... another gorgeous couple of days.  We managed a walk after work last night and then another before bed.  It was wonderful to get out and walk the streets after most people have retired.  It was quiet, peaceful, low humidity... fabulous!

Today, our quiet little cul de sac was not so quiet.   Our peaceful little faerie glade was invaded by brush removers and tree fellers.  Sigh!  We knew it would happen sometime, but we were hoping we would be able to look at it and enjoy it for a little while longer.  The tree fellers have been there most of the day.  Now, the bylaws dictate that they have to remove as few trees as possible.  Which is a good thing.  We will take a wander a little later to see how much they have removed.  It's a pity we couldn't have won the lottery or something so that we could buy the property :-) 

As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate your visits and comments.   Warm hugs and prayers to those of you who need a little lift tonight.  Have a fabulous Thursday.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Card stock:  Always Artichoke.  Very Vanilla
• Ribbon:  Seam Binding ribbon - Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
• Ink:  Always Artichoke
• Tools:  Big Shot, Christmas tree die (Sizzix).
• Stamp:  Signature Christmas (PTI)

 

A journey

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday.

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

I managed to get into my stamping space and create three cards on Saturday.  I saw this fabulous sketch across at I Spy Sketches.  (A new challenge site for me.)  I really loved the unusual placement of the layers and knew that I wanted to play around with it. 

I had this idea for a card for Pammie.  It's such a short time until they leave to come and spend two weeks with us.  I really wanted a card that had a travel theme, but also related to friendship.  

I looked around in my paper stash and noticed this gorgeous paper from Webster's Pages.  I've had it in my stash for ages, but rarely get to use it.   Firstly, I LOVED the color.  Secondly, I loved that it had a map on one sheet.  All I needed was a sentiment - My Digital Studio to the rescue! 

I wanted something to reflect the wonderful times we have spent with Pam and John and for the wonderful circle of friends they have introduced us to.  Rach and Russ, Ivor, Johnny and Lorraine... what a great collection of friends they have have cultivated on their journey through life.  It's a 14 hour trip to get to see them, but it is always worth the effort!    Guys,  this one is for you.

Here's my take on the challenge:

I love the color of this paper paired with Island Indigo.  A color I VERY rarely use.  I edged the map layer with a little So Saffron (another color I VERY rarely use!)  The ribbon is Very Vanilla and I think was perfect to soften the color scheme a little.    I was really pleased with it and glad that I decided to play along with this challenge.

On a personal note:

Two pieces of furniture arrived today!  YAY!  Nothing we can sit on, but at least something arrived!  A coffee table and a side table arrived for our basement family room.  Slowly, but surely, the rooms are starting to come together.  It's like Christmas everytime the UPS delivery truck, or the trucking company, come to our door.  Our third couch..... well, the same couch that has been shipped three times! -  is supposed to arrive in about two weeks.  We really can't wait to get that in so that we can start the placement of the rest of the furniture in the upstairs great room.  Slowly, the vision that I had for our home is coming together.

The weather is GORGEOUS.  Absolutely gorgeous.  The humidity is low.  It's in the low to mid-80s and there is a slight breeze.  Just perfect.  I love being able to open the windows in every room in the house and let the air circulate.

As always, thank you for visiting my area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate your visits and your comments.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

Card recipe:

• Card stock:  Island Indigo.  So Saffron
• Inks:  Island Indigo
• Paper:  Webster's Pages
• Accessories:  Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon.  Button from Bag o Buttons

I Dig You - Paper Players 108

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday night.

The Paper Players challenge this week is a great color challenge from the talented Ann.  When I have a color challenge, I generally go looking for a sketch for inspiration.  I found a fabulous one across at retrosketches.

Here's the color scheme and the sketch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This color scheme really felt masculine to me, so I decided to go with that.  Then I looked at the sketch and that gave me an idea for the stamp set.  Not one I use very often, but love!  I pulled out the I Dig You set and stamped it onto very vanilla card stock.  However, I felt it needed much more ooooomppppph.  So I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler and then again in Not Quite Navy.  After I stamped it, I felt it needed something more!  So, I took out my markers and colored over the stamped areas.  I then cut it out and covered it with Crystal Effects.  I left it to the side for several hours to let it dry whilst I carried on with other things.  

Here's what I came up with

Of course, I had to get out my Color Spritzer and use my Crumb Cake and Early Espresso markers to make some dirt!

Instead of the normal wheels, I added two mis-matched buttons instead.  I used my craft knife to cut out the window of the truck.  I mounted the Crumb Cake circle above the Cherry Cobbler circle with dimensionals.  Talking about dimension, I really thought it needed some on the base layer, so out came my scoring board :-)  All that was left to do was to raise the truck on dimensionals and adhere the buttons.

Here's a close up of the truck and buttons

I love the fact that the truck is so shiny.  I think it really does add something to the focal image.

The Paper Players would love you to play along with Ann's color challenge this week.  I know that the design team at Retrosketches would love it if you played along with them, too. 

Don't forget to check out the Paper Player design team inspiration cards - they've outdone themselves again this week.

• Jen
• Dawn
• Helen
• Nance
• Anne Marie
• LeAnne
• Ann
• Amy

On a personal note:

It's been a very long week and it felt good to actually get into my stamping space to do a little playing.  I got three cards made and Lou and I managed to get some jobs done around the house.  I hemmed 4 curtains.  Lou hung the curtain rod.  We hung a 120# mirror in the dining room.  That was quite some feat I can tell you!!!!  We also put up our first piece of "decorative stuff"!!  It's fabulous!  When I bought it, I wasn't quite sure what the right spot would be.  However, once it arrived, I knew exactly where it would go.  I'll take a photo for you and share it with you sometime this week.

The house is starting to take shape and we are loving being here.  Every day I pinch myself just to make sure that it is real.  Mind you, it is just over 5 weeks until Pam and John arrive to visit with us and we still have SO much to get done before they arrive!

Whilst standing on the deck today, I noticed today that our Blue Birds have flown the coop.  I also realized that the House Wren has left.  We still have the Orioles though - oh, and our sugar obsessed Hoary woodpecker!  I swear I am going to have to do an intervention with him one of these days. :-)

As always, thank you for visiting my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Have a beautiful Sunday

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Serene Silhouettes

Hi Everyone.  Happy Wednesday.

Firstly, shout outs to RACH, KATHY, LINDA, MITZI, BRENDA, CAM and ANN for leaving birthday wishes for my darling hubby's birthday.  He was very appreciative - as was I.  It really did mean a great deal to both of us that you stopped by and left a birthday message.   You guys ROCK!

I saw a sketch across at cleanandsimplestamping a few weeks ago and stored it away.  It's an interesting layout and one that definitely takes me out of my comfort zone.  I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, as I generally don't separate the focal layer - but that's the whole thing about doing challenges, right? 

I knew that a set like Serene Silhouettes would work really well for the sketch.  The stamp set led me to the colors of Wisteria Wonder and naturals white.  Here's what I came up with:

I used my scoring board to create the scored lines.  I really felt the background needed a little something and none of my embossing folders seemed quite right.  It took me no time at all to score the lines.  I inked up my Serene Silhouette stamp with my markers and then took a Gelly Roll pen to the flowers, just to give it a little shimmer and shine. 

On a personal note:

We had a great dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants last night and it was a relaxed evening.  It's so rare that we actually get time to spend together and it was great.  Today has been hectic.  Lou has been on the same conference call for 10 hours!  I have my first conference call tomorrow morning at 6am and my last one at 9pm tomorrow.  So... I'm thinking it was good that we actually did get to see each other last night!

Oh... and.... we were told we had furniture arriving today.  A chair!  Great.  Goodie.  (That was to replace a chair that they never delivered because it was broken when it got to the trucking company.)  So, the furniture truck arrived today with a waybill to collect a chair from us.  Huh?  Weren't they supposed to be delivering.  Nope... they were picking up according to the paper work.  I told them they were welcome to collect it - once they have delivered it :-)  .  So, I called the furniture company that we bought all our furniture from and, yes, they were supposed to deliver.  30 minutes later, we discovered that the  chair is MIA.  Now... seriously.... a couch and a chair have both disappeared into the ether and neither have been found.    All I could do was laugh.  I couldn't stop myself.  :-)

Oh.... the weather has been glorious.  Glorious.  Low humidity, lower temperatures.  All the windows open.  Heaven!  I just love it when you can open all the windows in the house and get a cross breeze.  It seems that we have a few more days of this weather, too.

OHHHHHHHH and we have a winner from the blog candy on this post.    Pam Carter - please can you click the email me on my side panel and send me an email with your physical address and I will be posting off to you a wonderful Stampin' Up! Scrunchy Rubbish Bin.  They are great for putting on your desk to catch your scraps whilst you are working.  I never stamp without mine.  Thank you to all of you who left a comment on that post.

As always, thank you for spending a little time in my stamping space.  You know I appreciate it - and thank you again to those of you who left a message for Lou.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.  I hope you have a fabulous Thursday.

Hugs

Jaydee

Open Sea for my darling hubby

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday.

Tomorrow is August 7.  Tomorrow is my darling hubby's birthday.  Lou is currently on his way back from Texas.  He left home at 5.30 am on Saturday morning and will be getting on a plane to come home just about now.  Since he left home on Saturday morning, he has had 3 hours sleep!  He worked straight through the weekend and I know he is going to be really tired tomorrow.  So, tonight's post is for Lou.

Even though Lou has travelled so much this year, he has done his best to do as many jobs around the house as he could since we moved into our new home.  That included painting the porch at 1.30 am on July 4th.  yep... it was the only time he could do it.  He soldiered through the heat, the dark and the humungous mosquitoes, just cos I wanted the porch painted!  He repainted the study, he painted a wall in the master bedroom and he painted walls in the basement family room... just because I thought they would look better!  He really is pretty amazing.  On top of that, he is the only man I know who would hold my Louis Vuitton handbag outside a restaurant because I wanted to run around taking pictures.  

Don't you think it suits him? :-)

Lou.... thank you for everything you do for me.  Happy, happy, birthday!

About the card..... As we both love cruising, I thought the nautical themed card was the right idea.  I paired it with some Wonderfully Worn DSP and my new favorite color - Midnight Muse.   I made the tag out of Very Vanilla card stock, but it was a little too bright, so I used the Tea Stain distress ink from the distressing kit to tone it down. The new Early Espresso ribbon was the perfect thing to finish off the tag.  (I used a non-SU button) and some linen twine to secure the ribbon.  I really do love this set and I hope Lou likes his card.

As Lou and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night, I will not be posting tomorrow.  But I will be back on Wednesday.

As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate your visits and your comments.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Have a wonderful Tuesday....... Lou... have a wonderful birthday and I hope this year brings you all that you wish for yourself.

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Nemesis returns

Hi Everyone.  Happy Saturday.

Sorry I have been AWOL for the last couple of nights.  On Thursday we were advised that the saga of the furniture was not yet over.  The sofa, which was shipped a month ago, has gone AWOL.  MIA.  Done a runner.  Skipped the country.   Who knows what it has done.  All we know is that Restoration Hardware have absolutely NO idea where it is.  None.  They have been looking for it for over a week and are no closer to finding it.  It also happened to have been the last one in the warehouse.  Oh, dear!  Consequently, when Lou got home on Friday from his trip this week, we went off to see if we could find a replacement.  There are a couple of replacements, but as we need a 9 foot sofa, they are all custom made and not stocked.  Delivery time?  Early October.  We got back late last night - very disappointed, very frustrated and still couchless.

I don't have a card for you tonight.  I haven't been able to spend any time stamping this week and didn't get into my stamping space to make my Paper Players card for this week yet, either.  I'm hoping to spend some time in my space tomorrow.

I do have a photograph for you.  Guess who returned to our neck of the woods?   Yep.  My nemesis.  This time I wasn't eye to eye with him, thank goodness.   He parked himself on top of the stump... I am so pleased we stopped them from taking out this tree stump!  He sat there for a good 15 minutes.  5 of those minutes the red-shouldered blackbird dive bombed him and try to get him to leave.  (I know you will like that, Cherie!)  I'd like to think that it was the mate of the female that my nemesis had flushed into the office window the other day.  If you didn't read that story, you can read it on this post.  Eventually, he saw something in the grass, swooped down onto the ground, then exited stage left!

Here he is

I'm sorry it's not such a great shot.  It was a very overcast day and I had to take the photo through the patio door!  He sure is a beautiful bird.  You can read all about him on the cornell site - here.

Well, Lou is away again.  Yep.. he got back and left 36 hours later!  So, I am off to go feed the pussycats, then get myself some dinner and sit down and watch the Olympics.  Track and Field.  My favorite!

As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  Your visits and your comments are very much appreciated.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Sometimes, I just wonder why - or why design in threes !

HI Everyone. Happy Wednesday. Hope your week is going really well. When I did my interior design course many years ago, the one thing that they kept telling us is this...... always design in threes.... accessorize in odd numbers. Every time I ignore that rule I shake my head and wonder why I did that?  

So, you have probably guessed by now that tonight is blooper night. Sometimes I look at a card I have made and think...well... ok... that's good.  Sometimes.... I look at a card I've made and go naaaaaaaaaah!!!!

I made a couple of pretty good cards this weekend.  Then I made THIS!

Now... it looks just a tad better in real life cos I used smooch spritz on the stamp before stamping onto the card stock, so it has a pretty shimmer.  However.....   the two flowers are almost exactly the same height.  BAD.  There are, well, TWO flowers - and it just looks so off!  If it had three flowers at different heights it might be better... but it just doesn't work as it is.

So, I removed the jewels, put them back on the package, cut the back of the card off and put it in my Perfect Plum scrap holder and the rest of it went into the bin!  Every time I look at it, I think there's a cheerleader behind the vase waving pom poms!

When you are next working on a design for a card - try out the rule of threes - or accessorizing in odd numbers.    Whether you are adding a button, pearls, stamping flowers - just try it as a single, as a double, three - or an odd number.  There really is something very pleasing about an odd number of things.  The mind looks for balance and symmetry and an odd number of the same items keeps our eye moving, it seems more harmonious - especially useful on a card.

On a personal note.

Well, it seems to be my week for odd things happening.   It was late at night.  Around midnight in fact.  I was lying in bed reading my book. The bedroom windows open.  I was listening to the sound of the frogs.  It was quite.  It was dark.  When all of a sudden I heard this NOISE.  It was a cacophony of sound that seemed unnatural.   It sounded like a coyote on crack (not that I have ever heard one, but you get my drift!) mixed with a crow mixed with a fox.   It was weird and LOUD.  I jumped out of bed, turned off my bedside light and went to the window.  I immediately looked on the ground thinking there was some rabid canine out there when all of a sudden - an owl descended from the stump (of course) - and flew right past the window - and me.   He was silent.  The only reason I saw him was because of the flash of white.

I had no idea what type of owl it was.  I wasn't even sure it had been the owl making the noise!  Of course, I went onto google and searched for Minnesota owls and then listened to their sounds.  If you want to know what be barred owl sounds like - go to this link on the Cornell Bird page and check it out.   BTW - this site is a great resource for bird lovers.   Here's the link to the Barred Owl page - you can find the sound byte about half-way down the page.  It was a sound I had never heard before - and one I will never forget.   I will also never forget being at the same height as an owl that flew past my bedroom window at midnight!   AWESOME!

As always, thank you for spending a little time in my area of the stamping blogosphere.  I really do appreciate your visits and your comments.

Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.  Have a wonderful Thursday

Hugs

Jaydee