Mardi Gras 2014

For the life of me, I don't know why I have a special place in my heart for Mardi Gras.  I think it goes back to being able to dress up in fabulous costumes and wear a mask.  No one knows who you are.  One of the things on my bucket list is to visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras.  But the bigger wish is to visit Venice, Italy during Carnavale.  The costumes and especially the masks just fascinate me.

This weeks project is for Mardi Gras.  Living in Oregon, we don't really celebrate in a grand style.  (living in a very small town doesn't help)  ScrappyDew has a pattern called Mardi Gras 2013 that I used this week.  Here is the link http://shop.scrappydew.com/shop/item/81108.  My daughter and her partner bought and moved into their first home over Christmas.  She hasn't had the time to accumulate the decorations for various holidays.  So I thought I would make them a banner for the front door.  I used the Mardi Gras 2013 file and found a Fleur di lis (probably spelled it wrong) shape to make the pennants.  The paper I used was Recollections from my last trip to Michaels.  Bits and pieces of scraps and here you are:

My daughter sent me a pic of their front door with the banner:

So happy you could join me today.  My prayers for safety and warmer weather go out to all my mid west and east coast friends.  Lets start spring!

Bright blessings, Jana

It's Time!

Hello all!  Hope you are snug and warm this Saturday.  I for one, am hoping that Mother Nature get's a hot flash pretty darned quick.  What a wild and whacky winter.  I am finally (fingers and toes crossed) getting over the REAL Flu bug.  I had a flu shot the week before Thanksgiving and that was my saving grace.  Can not imagine getting this flu without ever having it before.  

Now to switch gears in a totally opposite direction.  I have not (yet) been blessed with grand children.  Nor do I have contact with little ones on a daily basis.  I LOVE ScrappyDew files but one does need to get creative when making adult cards.  A dear friend is a parrot head (i think you call them that, fans of Jimmy Buffett)  There is a song about it being 5 o'clock somewhere.  I needed a birthday card and I had an idea to make a margarita card.  ScrappyDew to the rescue!!!  I used the Cinco de Mayo 2013 file http://shop.scrappydew.com/shop/item/83880.  It has the best darned Margarita cut file I have ever used.  To make this card special, I used Kosher Salt to rim the glass.  Got out my collection of beads and made a wine glass charm.  Now the Cinco de Mayo file included limes.  But plain green paper just didn't cut it.  So here is a little trick.  I found a picture of limes on Bing image search.  Printed out the image and cut out the shape of the limes.  Coated the limes in clear embossing powder and we now have limes that look like limes.

Here is the Card~~~~

The blue shiny paper is gift wrap from Costco that is reversible.  I use it quite a lot.  Now here is the inside.

The left side didn't come out as great as I would have liked.  I used a new stamp, and I forgot to condition it first.  But it's conditioned NOW!  Overall, this is a very nice adult themed card.  Sure hope that Kari likes it.

I also made her a tile to sit on a mantle or table.  I get my tiles at Habitat for Humanities Re-Store for .50 each.  It's a 12 x 12.  It's just Kari and her little dog June.  Here is a picture of the tile.

Send me a message if you would like information about making a tile.

So that's it for this week.  Time to start thinking about Easter Cards.  I hope you all get some spring weather in the coming week.


Bright Blessings for now,  Jana

One last Valentine

Hey!  Great to see your smiling face again!  


I always seem to leave the girls birthday or holiday cards to the last minute.  I find myself composing the layout in my head for weeks.  Well that was the case with their Valentines Day card.  I knew that I had purchased the DCWV Heirloom stack last year.  It had some really funky bingo paper.  (we celebrate all birthdays and just because days going out and playing bingo)  And wouldn't ya know it, Scrappy Dew had am amazing file just for this card.  Bingo bears-2012 http://shop.scrappydew.com/shop/item/70558.   I used all scraps in this card and they are mostly Recollections paper and the glitter is DCWV (Die Cuts With a View)  http://dcwv.com/.  So here is what I came up with:

My girls, bless their hearts, absolutely love it.  It was really fun to put together and the added bonus of the smiles from them made my heart sing.

I sincerely hope you had a fantastic Valentines Day!  My DH is recovering from Carpel Tunnel surgery so we did not really celebrate.  But, he did love the easel card that I made and the watermelon treat!  Oh-Oh-Oh, have to tell you that I got the go ahead to start the process of replacing our television.  I have been looking at a 80" Visio at Costco.  We have a 67" Samsung with the white dot disease that is not going to last much longer.  So that is what is new with me. 

So that's it for Valentines Day 2014.  Next week I will have a birthday card for a friend with some unusual embellishments.  

My wish for the coming week, Mother Nature please have a hot flash and get rid of all the snow in the country.

Bright blessings, Jana

Happy Valentines Day

Welcome to my FROZEN corner of the world.  We have a total of ~14 (give or take) inches of snow and now it's freezing rain.  Where I live, the city doesn't even OWN a snow plow.  We just don't get snow and ice like this.  The last time we had a storm like this was 1968.  I am sooooooooooo ready for spring!

Happy Valentines Day to all!  I hope you spend time with a loved one.  My DH has an employee that we consider an adopted son.  He is so much more than just an employee.  So I knew I had to make him a Valentine to go along with a baked treat.  Masculine cards are just plain hard for me to make (sparkles and lace and pretty girlie colors are my area of expertise).  
This week I used the I Love You a Latte Bears file from Scrappy Dew. http://shop.scrappydew.com/shop/item/57856  Recollections card stock for the bear, background papers are made by Crate Papers.  For the coffee beans, I used ground Folgers coffee.  Here is what I came up with.

I think that it isn't to girlie girl and he will be surprised.  Especially with a baked treat to go along with the card.  Now I made some other valentines, and they went out last week.  Here is a pic of the Valentines for 2014.

I used Tim Holtz Stamp collection "Heartfelt".  I just love the saying on the front of the card. Crate Paper and misc. ribbon helped also!

So from my snowy corner, Happy Valentines Day and very bright blessings, Jana

A Warm Quilt

Hello everyone!  Hope you are staying warm.  We are headed for another artic blast with temps in the single digits next week.  Burrrrr!  Time to bring out the really warm quilts.  Nothing like a warm quilt to warm the body and the spirit, and this weeks card is a warm quilt.

I had been wondering if I could quilt with paper and this week I decided to try it.  I found a block that didn't look to hard.  It's called Mosaic Pinwheel here's where you can find it:  http://quilting.about.com/od/blockofthemonth/ss/mosaic_pinwheel.htm.  I looked for a pattern that just uses squares.  That way you can make any size. I had requested the pattern Sewing Palz 2013 from ScrappyDew's Design Team leader Michelle.  I knew that some of the pieces of this file would be wonderful on a quilted card. 

Here is the link  http://shop.scrappydew.com/shop/item/84134.  I made sure to take a lot of pictures so you could see how I did this block.  (you can scroll to the end to see the finished card)

All the paper is K& Company.  The ribbon was a RAK (random act of kindness) from a dear friend.  So here we go....

I put the picture of the quilt block on my computer for reference.

Here are the papers I decided to use.

Cut 1 inch squares.  I needed 8 squares for the each color and thought I would use the yellow for strips in between the squares.

Cut each square diagonally.  In my card making I use a lot of my quilting tools.  A big cutting mat is an essential! I glued each piece onto a sheet of graph paper.

Here is the completed block. I decided that I would emboss the square and make it look like it was quilted.

Next is to cut it all apart and put in the strips.  This is where I decided to use the ribbon.

So I used the 1/4 inch yellow strips on the outside of the block.

And here is the finished block for the front of the card.  I just love the spring colors.  The card base is Gemstones from core-dinations that I found on my last trip to Joann's. 

Now for the Sewing Palz 2013 elements to make this card come to life.  I knew I wanted to make a pin cushion and I also used some of my pretty quilting pins.  (i did cut off the sharp ends with a pair of wire cutters)  The spool is wrapped in embroidery floss and the needle is threaded.  I just love the way the scissors came out.  I used some metallic paper that made them pop.  So here it is....

I found the verse on Pinterest and it really suits this card.  See the little thimble, it is sooo cute.  There you have it.  How to quilt using paper.  I am sure you can find many ways to do this and I would love to see your results.

Tomorrow the girls and I are going to Spirit Mountain Casino to play Bingo and eat at the Cedar Plank Buffet.  Can't wait! (hope to win some money this time)  Take care my friends and see you next week.  

Just one final note.....GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!

Bright blessings, Jana