Stampin! with Jaydee

Branch Out - Valentine

Hi Everyone.  Welcome to Jaydee's SU stampin' space.  Today's card uses the Stampin' Up! Branch Out set .... I just had to use it at least one more time before it retires on Jan 4.  I've really enjoyed making cards with this set and it will remain one of my favorites.  You can see the other cards I have posted using the Branch Out set here.  Before we get down to the card, I wanted to say thank you again to all of you who sent me emails or left comments wishing us a Merry Christmas and for indulging me when I was worried Lou wouldn't get home in time for Christmas.  

We had a great day yesterday and had fun exchanging presents, playing with them and just relaxing!  I couldn't hide Lou's presents because they were a little large.  Including his snowblower!  Yep, after all these years he finally gave into getting a snowblower!  We thought that with such a massive storm on the horizon, with so much ice accumulation, a snowblower was required.  Well, that was all great in theory.  Except.... we had very little snow and he hasn't been able to christen his snowblower yet:-)  However, we did get a little of the fluffy stuff on Christmas Day.  It fell for about half an hour - those big fluffy flakes.  Really magical.  Here's what the edge of our deck looks like this morning.  On the right hand side of the pic you can see where Lou hasn't shoveled snow.  It's covered the planters that were left over at the end of fall.  Those of you who follow my blog regularly will know that I made quite a few cards using Dasher.... from the metal ornaments on our deck (we purchased these last year)... you can see that I have a passion for Dasher - so the SU stamp this year was perfect for me.

Doesn't that look like a winter wonderland?  You can see how crisp the snow is, too!  You can see the animal tracks leading to the feeders in our garden, although I managed to take the pic without a single animal or bird in the picture :-)

Anyway, on to today's card.

I really love my Branch Out set and wanted to use it a little differently.  I played around to see how best I could create a Valentine's/Love card out of it and this is what I ended up with.

Card recipe:

• Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Whisper White card stock
• I stamped the tree in Rich Razzleberry
• I used my En Francais background stamp and stamped it onto a piece of Melon Mambo card stock, in Melon Mambo.
• I used my heart to heart punch and punched hearts using the smallest of the three hearts.  I punched from plain Melon Mambo paper as well as the paper I had stamped the love poem from En Francais on to
• I began layering the hearts and adhering them with snail, until I got the coverage I wanted.
• I backed the Whisper White image onto a Rich Razzleberry matt
• I stamped "love you" from the Short and Sweet set in Rich Razzleberry and then mounted the focal point onto the base of Melon Mambo

I was really happy with the end result and love the fact that it can be done in any color combination!

So, no stamping stuff under the Christmas tree for me.... I'm waiting for January 5th and the start of Sale A Bration and the new Mini catalog.  There are a number of key things I want from the mini and am thrilled that SU has decided to allow us to take free goodies from the current 2009/2010 catty for our free goodies.  I really think it's a great idea.  I'm also loving the clear mount stamps and will be buying more of those.  (You can see my clear mount stamp tutorial here.)  I'll also be buying more of the new punches, including the corner punches.  As Lou will be buying me some goodies in Jan... that means I get to keep the Christmas pressies going just a little longer :-)

Talking about pressies.... don't forget.... BLOG CANDY is still in play.  Comments left on my blog will be entered into the draw on New Year's Day.  Bilbo Baggins will be choosing a winner again.  January's blog candy will have a different requirement for entry... but I'll be posting details about that on New Year's Day.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas filled with joy and laughter.  Presents are wonderful.... but it's being together with those that you love that feeds us all :-)

Have a fabulous Boxing Day... yep.. that's what we English call the day after Christmas Day.  Thank you for visiting my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  Your visits - and your support - are always appreciated.

Peace

Jaydee

Branch Out - New Year Winter Wonderland

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday night.  Tonight's card uses the soon to be retired  SU Branch Out set.  Me... I will never get rid of my Branch Out set... I just love it.

Well, poor Lou is having difficulties getting home.  There is a major storm going on in Milan - where they are expecting up to 8 inches of snow.  Unlike many areas in the US that are accustomed to large snowstorms... Milan isn't prepared for it.  He left the office and was advised not to take a taxi as the traffic was so backed up that it would take far too long.  So, he took the train.  That was at 5.30p.m Milan time.  He called me and he's still on his way to the airport and that was at 12.00a.m. Milan time!  The train broke down and they couldn't get another one to them.  He is still only half way to the airport hotel.  By the time he gets there it's going to be time to leave for the airport!  If they cancel his flight tomorrow morning and ship him out the next day... guess what..... we are expecting a 12-18 inch snowfall in Rochester on Wednesday!  Ooooopppps....  The "joys" of traveling at this time of year.

Talking about snowfalls - that's the topic of tonight's card.  I really wanted to do a New Year card and the view from my window on Saturday evening inspired me to create this card.  There was a light snowfall just before I went down to my stamping space and we have a tree very close to our house that looks just like the one in Branch Out.  Before I went downstairs I checked out some of the challenges and the Palspaperarts challenge this week and the theme was Winter Wonderland.  How appropriate for my card :-)

Card recipe:

• Night of Navy and Whisper White card stock.  I used White for the card base and the Night of Navy as the layer piece.
• Two clear rhinestones.  I cut the legs off the rhinestones at the back with my paper crafting scissors.  This means that I don't have to worry about getting the holes in just the right position :-) I adhered them with two mini glue dots - just to make sure they stuck!
• I embossed the Branch Out tree with white embossing powder.  I then took the snowflake stamp from the Branch Out set and randomly stamped all over the card - leaving the top, where I was going to put my ribbon, free from snowflakes.  I stamped the snowflakes with Versamark and then used Iridesence Ice embossing powder.  This gives a much softer look than using white.  It also gives great interest in the light.  However, it was pretty tough to photograph as the tent lights tend to pick up the red in the iridesence ice, and yet under normal light it picks up the cooler colors!
• I attached some white grosgrain ribbon and a little bow made from the organza ribbon.
• I stamped Happy New Year from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and then backed it on a piece of Night of Navy punched out with the Modern Label Punch
• All that was left was to assemble the card.  Easy, quick and I just love it!

Don't forget - blog candy is on offer..... All comments placed by end of December 31 2009 will be entered into the draw. So, keep the comments coming! 

An update to Lou's travel... as I was finishing up the paragraph above, Lou phoned to tell me he had finally reached the airport and that his flight has been canceled in the morning!  He's in the queue waiting to see what's next!  I know many people traveling in the last few days have had similar issues, so I hope all of you who are traveling have gotten to where you need to go.  Travel safely and I'll have another update tomorrow for those of you who are still around.

Peace

Jaydee

Branch Out - Friendship

Hi Everyone

Welcome to Jaydee's SU stampin space.  Our cruise ship was docked in Livorno today, day 2 of our transatlantic cruise.   Cruising is so relaxing.  The ship is beautiful.  Last year we sailed on the Azamara Quest on a western Mediterranean cruise.  The Quest was a third of the size of the Solstice.  We'd chosen the Solstice this year because we wanted to be on a larger vessel crossing the Atlantic!  She is certainly a gorgeous ship!

Today's card uses one of my favorite sets - Branch Out.  I love the flexibility of this set and still want to try a Christmas card with it.  What am I going to do when I can't make Christmas cards???? "-)

Splitcoaststampers have a challenge called featured stamper and the key is to take one of the featured stamper's cards and change at least two things about it.  I thought this was an interesting challenge - because it really symbolises a CASE. TreasureOiler had done this fabulous card using the Branch Out, so I decided to keep the same image and layout but change everything else.  I loved her color scheme, but wanted to feature a fall color scheme for my version.

Card recipe:

• I used Dusty Durango and Very Vanilla Card stock
• Dusty Durango and Old Olive DSP
• Dusty Durango polka dot ribbon - reversed
• I inked the image in Chocolate Chip and stamped it on the Very Vanilla paper. 
• I then inked the leaves in Dusty Durango and stamped them using my stamp-a-ma-jig.  To get the lighter color leaves, I used my marker pens for the second round of stamping.  I could have used a different color pen - but wanted to keep to a limited number of colors
• I stamped the sentiment (from The More the Merrier set) directly onto a piece of DSP instead of onto card stock
• I stamped the tire using my black marker pen, as I wanted a faded look.  The boots were stamped in Old Olive
• I kept the idea of the clip from the original card

I enjoyed working with the layout and was pleased with the overall result.  Now I think I might have to do a spring version next!

I hope you have a fabulous day.  As always, thank you for spending time in my area of the stamping blogosphere - your visits are always appreciated. 

Jaydee

Halloween Hoot - Sweet Center Witch and Branch Out Forest Scene

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday!
Two for the price of one visit tonight.  PalspaperArts Challenge 5 is a theme challenge - Halloween.  Well... those of you who visit often know that I couldn't resist this one!  Stampin' Up! has created some fantastic Halloween sets this year, but Halloween Hoot is the one I decided to invest in.  It really appealed to my sense of the ridiculous - and my cards reflect that. :-) You can see my Halloween Hoot collection here. 
Here are the two new ones for tonight.  

I couldn't resist using the Sweet Centers  - hot hair balloon basket again.  A little twist of the unexpected .....This time the witch is powering the basket :-)  I drew the witch with her hair flying and her cape flowing behind her with the bottom of her legs and cape inside the basket of the Hot Air Balloon.  I cut her out, and then stamped the hot air balloon from sweet centers and attached the hot air balloon with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I then attached the whole thing to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals - to give dimension not only for the witch, but also for the basket.  Jaydee tip 1: I colored her in with Basic Black Marker, because I wanted the variation of colors and more of a texture to reflect the light from the moon.  I wouldn't have gotten that same effected if I had drawn her on black paper and cut it out.    I like the fact that the circle in the basket was reflected in the circles in the paper and in the sentiment.  Fun :-)

The second card is a forest scene.  Again from the Halloween Hoot set - minus the witch.  Don't forget, she's just taken off in a hot air balloon and left the rest of the animals from the set alone to get up to no good :-)

I decided to create a much bigger moon this time and put the frog in the tree, as though he had been left to watch over whatever is brewing in the cauldron.  The wise old owl always looks as though he's been imbibing too much of whatever is in the cauldron :-)  The tree is from the Branch Out set.  All other items are from the Halloween Hoot set.  Jaydee tip 2:  When you stamp the Branch Out tree it provides a line for the ground line.  I extended that under the cauldron with black marker to ground the cauldron.

You'll notice I also turned the sign upside down to hang it from the tree. 

Jaydee tip 3:  I needed to highlight the tree - to reflect the light from the very bright moon.  I used my Signo uni-ball white pen to run a fine line down the tree trunk and the branches. 

The grey satin ribbon adds a juxtaposition of normality against the rest of the haphazard scene.  On the forest scene card, I used a sponge and a mixture of Basic Grey and Going Grey inks to create the night sky and clouds.  I stamped the entire image on Shimmery White... when you move the card around you can still get a little shimmer from the card stock - even though I colored it with the greys.  I tore the right hand side of the card as well to continue the theme. 

I hope you enjoyed these two whimsical cards.  I had great fun making them - but they were very tough to photograph.  If you have any questions on how I created them, leave me a comment or send me an email.

As always, thanks for spending time with me in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.... and for those of you who visit often... I had to include this picture... maybe I need to try to keep my cats out of my stamping space.... well... Bailey anyway.  Why is it always Bailey???? 

Those white lines you can see are his whiskers... which, considering you cannot see his face, shows you how long his whiskers actually are!!!!

Have a fabulous Tuesday and I hope you get time to spend doing the things you love - with those you love the most.

Peace and hugs

Jaydee

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Branch Out and yet another Halloween Hoot bonus

Hi Everyone

Happy Wednesday.  I can't believe that it's already Tuesday night and we are almost at "hump" day.  Ever since I was a child and was going through my "I hate school" period, I've really appreciated Wednesdays!  I'm sad to say that I won't be at the Stampin' Up convention this year.  Sigh!

Today, I have one of my all time favorite Stampin Up stamp sets to show you.  Branch Out!  There's a distinctly fall (autumn for my European and Antipodean visitors :-)....)feel to the air right now and it inspired me to use fall colors for this Stamping411 saturday sketch challenge 110.  For those of you who have visited my site before, you know I can't resist a challenge.  You should check out the submissions from the other posters, too.  Always lots of great inspiration for you.

 Once again, I loved the simplicity of the layout.  I used Really Rust for the card stock and the matt.  I stamped the leaves with Really Rust and Crushed Curry.  I stamped the tree with Soft Suede and used soft suede for the circle.  I used the textured card stock for the circle.

I decided to stamp the butterflies in Only Orange - it reminded me of the fact that we get a lot of Monarchs at this time of year.  (In fact we planted lots of Milkweed in our garden to help these amazing little things along!)   I used black StazOn for the tire.  It really gives such a crisp clear image.  I stamped all of this on Whisper White.  I love using the WW for featuring stamps as I like the way the ink takes and the crispness of the image I get when I use it.

The brad is from the Vanilla Hodgepodge collection.

Overall, I was really pleased with the way the card turned out and felt that it captured the fall feel that I was looking for.

As I have received even more requests for Halloween cards - here's today's bonus.  I used the Halloween Hoot.... again! :-) This time I used the witch stamp and decided to combine it with Humor in High Heels.  My friends will understand my absolute NEED to use this stamp..... My DH had to build an entire part of our walk-in closet just to hold my shoe collection!.....

I changed the exposure of these shots, so that you could see the detailing on the black card stock.  I ran it through my big shot on the polka dots and then used my sanding block to subtly highlight the dots.  For this version of the card, I used the retired Kiwi Kiss ribbon.  I also did a version with the Dusty Durango ribbon instead.  The witch image was stamped in black StazOn and I used my Aquapainter and colored the witches face with Old Olive ink.  I stamped the placard in black StazOn, and then stamped the "Best Witches" on Old Olive card stock.  For the inside, I decided to make her a "good witch" and gave her silver shoes!

As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the vast and inspiring stamping blogosphere.  Your visit is much appreciated.

I wish you an inkspirational day, full of time to do the things you love - with those you love.
Peace
Jaydee