Stampin! with Jaydee

Clean and Simple Birthday - Homage to Dusty Durango - Updated

Hi Everyone

Happy Friday Night.  Today it was in the 60's and the sun was actually shining.  It's been so long that we've seen sunshine that I had forgotten how bright the world actually was:-)

I managed to get out and about during the day today - a quick break from work.  That never happens during the week.  I met my great friends Brenda and Bethany for lunch.  It was fantastic to sit and share some wonderful food and even better company.  Bethany, I hope you had great fun at the dance tonight - and Brenda good luck for your half on Sunday!

A few weeks ago the clean and simple challenge across at splitcoast was to create a birthday card in using Orange in honor of Jen who runs the challenges.  It was her birthday and, yes, you guessed it, her favorite color is Orange.  (Well, in that case... she's going to love the new Peach Parfait:-)...)

I had just received my Haiku paper from the clearance rack and found it was a great excuse to pull out my Everything Nice set (yes, another one of those that I think might retire.. mind you.. I will keep it cos I love it!)  I also pulled out my Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give the card just a little more bling.

Even though the orange in the Haiku paper is different to Dusty Durango, the two go well together. 

Card recipe:

•  Card stock - Whisper White, Dusty Durango
• Ribbon - Dusty Durango Polka Dot (I do hope they are keeping polka dot ribbon in the new catty!)
• Iridescent Ice embossing powder

Card sizes:

• Layer 1 - base card A2
• Layer 2 - Haiku 5 5/16" W x 1 1/2" H
• Layer 3 - Dusty Durango 2 6/16"W square
• Layer 4 - Whisper White 2 1/4" square
• Layer 5 - Dusty Durango 2 1/8" square
• Layer 6 - Whisper White 1 7/8" square

I varied the widths on the top two layers to add interest.  I adhered all layers - except the top one, with snail.  The top layer was adhered with dimensionals.  This allowed me to slip the ribbon underneath and around the card.

After stamping the sentiment, I stamped my Versamark pad all over the square and then covered it in Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heat set.

A very quick card to make and one that can be made to suit any age group and any gender just by changing up the colors.  For a masculine card, you could use a paper layer or string instead of the ribbon,  and texture the background with something like the square lattice embossing folder run through your Big Shot.  

I had to share a couple of photographs from my garden.  Two years ago we planted Bleeding Hearts.  They have such gorgeously delicate leaves and flowers.  We planted them in the shade along with some ferns.  We NEVER thought they would come back.  But here they are, in all their wondrous glory, in the miracle of rebirth in spring.  They survived two winters and this area has now become our little fairy grotto. 

Even though the flowers don't last long, the foliage lasts all the way through fall.  The different shades of green create interest in the shaded area.  We absolutely love them.

Here's the other part of our fairy grotto.  Update:  Doris... thank you!!!! I hadn't realized that I had not placed this photo in the post!  So, now instead of trying to visualize the fairy...here she is!

You can see the ferns and another Bleeding Heart in the background.  We bought the fairy many years ago.  She has survived all the changes in seasons, and I love the fact that the birds will often perch on her before going to the bird bath.  I named her Iolanthe.  Which, considering what has been happening in the British political system the last couple of weeks, is most appropriate.

To add to the magic of this part of the garden, we placed a wonderful butterfly house in the middle.  I admire it greatly.  The butterflies completely ignore it!

Well, there you are - our little magical spot!

I hope you all have a fabulous Saturday, filled with your own little piece of magic!

A quick shout out to Missy, Beth and Lynn for their constant, and much appreciated, support.  Welcome to Dee and Francie! Alison it was great to see you comment again.   As always, thank you so much for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  

As always - thank you to ALL of you.

Hugs

Jaydee

Puppy Dog Tails and Smooch

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.  The weekend is on its way.  However, I wish Spring would come on back!

Tonight I will be sharing a card using the Everything Nice (another one of those that I speculate may retire in a couple of weeks!)  It's a set I recently bought and have had fun using.  I'll also be sharing my thoughts on SmoochSpritz.  Finally!  I can hear Adelle say:-)

To the card first.  I used the theme challenge from crazy4challenges, which was to incorporate something from the nursery rhyme "What are Little Boys Made Of?" in honor of Frances soon to be grandson!  The color challenge from colourq  was to use Crushed Curry, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Brilliant Blue - a combination I have never used before!  Two great challenges from two great sites and I couldn't wait to play along.... You know the drill :-)  pop along and see the great inspiration and submission cards... and why not think about playing along?

So.... the theme of little boys and snails and puppy dog tails was perfect.  Why?  Because one of the sayings in the set is "snips and snails and puppy dog tails"!  Perfect!  I also had just purchased the P is for Paw wheel and I thought it would be great to incorporate that.

I looked at the challenge colors and thought they would be perfect for a baby boy card.  So, that is exactly what I did.

Whilst we are on the topic of animals... Bailey had been in the photo tent whilst I was getting ready with my goodies... and.. thank you Bailey... had left a little clump of hair which is visible in the bottom right hand corner.  I swear that cat is just one big hairbaill!  And... there's a "ghost image" in the middle of the card at the bottom, too.  I need to clean my lens.  Looks like Bailey stuck his wet nose on the lens!  Cats.... they are into EVERYTHING!

I colored my wheel using markers and backed it with Crushed Curry.  I colored the sentiment with markers too, to tie them together.  A couple of Certainly Celery and Brilliant Blue buttons and we were done.  You can see that I did use the Polka Dot embossing folder for the background.  I thought the dots on the background helped tie into the horizontal strip, which also has dots on it!  I decided that Brilliant Blue is a color I am going to miss.  I don't use it often, but I will miss it.   I really enjoyed playing with the theme and the colors - such a happy card:-)

Now... onto Smooch Spritz.  Here's Jaydee's thoughts on using this and you don't want to know how I know all of these things.  Let's say... spraying yourself in the eye with Smooch isn't a particularly clever thing to do!  All the pics below should enlarge if you run your mouse pointer over them! 

BTW... I LOVE the Smooch Spritz, so don't be put off by my list of how to use it... I just wanted to try to let you have the insights that I have learned over the last couple of weeks.... but I love... love.. love using it.  In fact, I just ordered my second bottle of Very Vanilla!

1. Get yourself the Color Catcher... I didn't want to because I thought I had more than enough cardboard boxes and wouldn't need it.  Well, if you want to make one - ensure that it is at least 10 inches deep and 10 inches high.  I initially used a box from SU and kept spraying all over the desk. The color catcher certainly helps.
2. Shake VERY well before using.
3. Spray at least 6-10 inches away from the paper.
4. Ensure the nozzle is pointed directly at the paper when you spray.  I have placed a black dot on the opposite side of the nozzle using permanent marker to make sure that I don't spray in my face or to the side of the box.
5. Remember the bottles are glass and may roll if the surface isn't perfectly straight
6. Try not to pick the containers up by the top as they make come off and you can drop the container
7. When you want to spray on a small area - I'd suggest cutting the piece of paper a little bigger than you need.  That way, you can cut the area you want to have on the card.
8. You DO NOT need to push the nozzle all the way down like you would hair spray, cleaning liquid, etc.  The harder you spray the more liquid you get and I find the gloopier it is.
9. Mind you... if you don't spray hard enough - this is what happens.... you get SmoochGloop instead of Smooch Spritz.  Not pretty!  So, play around a little until you get the feel and look that you like.  I tend to spray and move my hand as I go - just as you would hairspray.
10. If the nozzle gloops up, you can take it off and soak the nozzle in household cleaner for about 30 minutes.  Mine haven't clogged by the way!
11. I use my heat gun to help dry the spray...... why?  because I am impatient!  If you pick it up immediately after spraying, it will smudge
12. I LOVE layering.  The Silver and Vanilla tend to be colder colors and work together.  The Gold and Log Cabin are warmer, so I tend to combine the two. 
13. YOUR SPRAYS WILL NOT BE EVEN..... which drives me crazy... however, I have to get over myself, because it isn't meant to be even.  When you look at this sample you can see why I suggest making the card piece just a little bigger - that way I can cut off the big spot that I don't like - the rest of it is perfect, though.
14. The Gold Glow is gorgeous and I love it on the darker colors as well as the lighter colors, it really looks like fools gold on the paper.

    

Here are examples I sprayed for you.

On the right, you can see the smooch GOLD GLOW on both white and crumb cake (aka kraft).  On the left is golden glow  on chocolate chip and basic black.  Golden Glow is the perfect name for it.  It really does look like fools gold!

Let's take a look at the SILVER FOIL on the dark and neutrals.

  I love the blueish tinge it gives.  It's really pretty.  

Now let's look at it on the neutrals. This time... I mixed it with the Very Vanilla - so that you can see the blueish grey tinge from Silver Foil  with the lighter color of the Very Vanilla.  I thought it would be a good way to show you the two together.  They look great alone, but together they really add another dimension.

Well.. I hope that gives you some insight.  You can see the other cards I made using SmoochSpritz to get a feel of them on projects by clicking HERE

As always, thank you so much for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  If you have any questions on using the SmoochSpritz, or any other techniques, just leave me a comment or sent me an email.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Hugs

Jaydee

 

Best Wishes - Lovely Flowers meets Everything Nice

Hi Everyone.

Happy Thursday night.  Quick post tonight.

This card uses the fabulous rub-on flowers from the Lovely Flowers Bundle Set.  The clean and simple challenge at splitcoaststampers called for a square card.  I rarely do square cards and decided to do a smaller one today - 4.25" x 4.25" and I love this size. 

I'm really hooked on Melon Mambo right now... is it because it is about to retire?  I absolutely loved the Peony rub-on and was compelled to use it on a pretty, yet strong color.  So... Melon Mambo it was.

I think the white rub-on against the Melon Mambo looks gorgeous.  Of course, I had to bring out the Short and Sweet set - I just love this sentiment set.

Where's the Everything Nice, I can hear you say.... ah... well... let's take a look on the inside!

I used another rub-on for the lower left corner and then stamped the sentiment in white craft ink and then embossed it with white embossing powder.  I think it needed that because of the textured card stock.

The Everything Nice set was one of the ones I got free with my SAB order.

Today has been another very long day. Another 3000 of our colleagues were laid-off today.  I know that some of you will have been in that position, or close to people who have, so it's been a pretty tough few days emotionally.  Consequently, I finished very late and this will be a very short post.

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday... me... I'm thrilled that it is the weekend coming up!  I might actually even get to spend some time in my stamping space!

Before I go.. thank you to all of you who left such wonderful comments for Linda.  Her card was beautiful and I knew you would enjoy it.

hugs

Jaydee