All blog content, including designs, text, and photographs are COPYRIGHT © Janette Olen. Everything posted here is shared for your personal inspiration and enjoyment only and may not be used for publication or for design team submissions. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Sweet N Sassy Blog hop day 2

Hi there! Welcome to the second day of the sweet n sassy blog hop. With summer coming just around the corner we are focusing on summer fun for the month of May. All spring and summer stamps sets at Sweet N Sassy stamps are going to be 15% off between May 1st and May 31st. There are some super cute sets so you will want to check them out! Today I have 2 very similar CAS cards to show you using the summer fun and summer sentiments sets. These 2 great sets are so versatile and perfect for this time of the year I am sure you will agree. I just love the strawberry image so that is what I chose for my cards today.





I stamped my strawberry 3 times and colored them with copics. I accented the stems with a clear spica glitter pen. On the one card I added some stitched ribbon and stamped the sentiment in black. On the other card I scored 2 lines at the top and stamped the sentiment in green.

Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Summer Fun and Summer Sentiments
CS- Paper Temptress heavenly white ultrasmooth premium cardstock, pop tones gumdrop green, SU summer picnic dp
accessories- white gel pen, circle nesties, spica glitter pen, scor-pal, stitched ribbon, copics (R35, R37, R39, G21, G24)


If you did not come here from Faith's blog then be sure to go back and start at the Sweet N Sassy blog so you don't miss any of the great eye candy that the DT has for you. If you have already been hopping then your last stop for today is Sarah's blog.

Have a great day and thanks for coming by!

Hugs and blessings,
Janette

Monday, April 27, 2009

mojo color challenge

Good Monday morning! I am excited to show you my double challenge card today. Julee has another rockin sketch for us this week. Take a peek:





My card is pretty straight forward. I stamped this beautiful flower image from Verve stamps with chocolate ink on Paper Temptress cryogen white cardstock and then sponged around it with soft sky ink using the nestie as a stencil. I absolutely LOVE this newly released "Because of You" stamp set from Verve. As a matter of fact I think it is my new favorite verve set!!! You might want to check it out.

Supplies:
stamps- Verve stamps Because of you
CS- Paper Temptress Cryogen white, Cloud 9 dp, saffron
accessories- taffeta ribbon, circle nesties, rectangle nesties, Kaiser brown pearls


Check out the sketch and challenge details on the mojo Monday blog. The mojomakers have some pretty terrific samples to show you too.

Have you heard yet of Christian Paper Crafts Magazine? Well, it's this amazing new quarterly magazine that will be debuting August 1st and you've just GOT to check it out! I am so excited about what God is doing and I hope you will join me in supporting this fantastic new magazine. I am so blessed to be on the design team for it!!

Cindy Coutts, the servant in charge of the magazine, has also set up this fabulous new CPCM forum. This new forum has all kinds of great discussions both spritual and craft related plus weekly challenges! I am the weekly hostess of the Color Monday challenge and Korin Sutherland and Chris Dickinson of SNSS are also hosting challenges so you must check it out!

So my mojo card today is also for the first color challenge that I am hosting. In the future I hope to be able to have separate cards for the challenges but there will be weeks when things are busier and I won't be able to do that. Since I was away last week, it was one of those busier weeks LOL. Anyway your first color challenge is to use the colors:

chocolate chip (dk. brown)
soft sky/baja breeze (light blue)
saffron (yellow)

I really like how these colors look together and hope you will enjoy creating with them too. Please check out the challenge post in the CPCM forum for further information and hope you will be able to play along!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

High Hopes challenge 28 and CPCM challenge

Hello everyone! I am excited to show you my double challenge project today. The weekly high hope challenge is anything but a card and is brought to us by Amy who is seriously awesome at watercoloring! Check out her blog and you are sure to be inspired. I also saw that the Wednesday challenge this week on the Christian papercrafts magazine forum was to make a stationary box. Well, I have been wanting to make a box for sometime now and the 2 challenges inspired me to give it a try! Take a look and see what you think:

Stationary box (closed)


box (open)





I basically used the template/instructions that my good friend Korin posted on her blog last year. You can see her instructions HERE. I did change a couple things like the front pockets and the way I did the ribbon but the basic box is the same. I thought that this would make a nice end of the year gift for my daughter's teacher. I am going to make some personalized notcards for her to put in it but I did not finish them up yet so the ones I filled it right now are just a prop. The pen is a beaded pen and is super easy. You can find the instructions for it HERE.

closer view of images





If you try to make a box I suggest using a heavy weight cardstock for it so it will be sturdy for you. I used heavenly white ultrasmooth cardstock from Paper Temptress for mine. This cardstock is just awesome!! It comes in an 80# and 100# weight. The 100# cardstock weight is a nice heavy weight very similar to Papertrey's stampers select. It is a very smooth cardstock and the feek of it is comparable to Stampin Up whisper white, Gina K's pure luxury and Prism simply smooth. The 80# weight heavenly white is very similar in weight to SU whisper white.

I colored my images with copics and accented the bee wings with stickles and the antlers with a couple rhinestones.

Supplies:
stamps- high hopes standing bee, fanciful flower border
CS- Paper Temptress heavenly white, black eclipse, basis red, Papertrey Ink polka dot dp
accessories- rhinestones, stickles, black pearls, SU top note die, stitched ribbon, microbeads, red line adhesive
copics- Y15, Y17, C7, C9, black, R29, R39, G21, G24


Be sure to visit the high hopes blog for the challenge and prize info this week and to check some great projects that the other divas have to show you.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sweet stop Saturday

Today is the first sketch on the brand new sweet stop blog which is hosted by Sweet N Sassy stamps. Instead of the Monday Sweet N Sassy DT challenge we now moved the challenges to Saturdays and on it's own blog. If you are like most cardmakers, you love sketches. If so, then you are sure to enjoy the weekly sketches that Korin will have for us. There's more- once a month will be super sweet where you will have a chance to win some prizes by participating in the challenge. Below is this week's sketch and my sample:





I sponged around my scripture verse while it was still in the circle die using the die as a stencil. I sanded the edges of my dp and cardstock as well as sanding the stripes on the cuttlebug layer.

Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Trust in the Lord set
CS- ctmh dp, paper temptress whip cream and wild cherry pop tones
accessories- circle nesties, distressed stripes cb folder, pearls, taffeta ribbon, paper piercer


Be sure to check out the brand spankin new Sweet Stop blog. You can see challenge details as well as some other wonderful examples from the Sweet N Sassy stamps Sr. DT.

Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Do you love paper?

Are you a paper lover like me?? Well, if you are then I want to let you know about the awesome paper give away on the Paper Temptress blog. You can check it out HERE.

Have a great day and good luck!

Monday, April 20, 2009

mojo Monday Week 83

It's mojo Monday! I am out of town so I am going to apologize to you all for the fairly short post. Below is the mojo sketch and my sample:





Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps God's Grace
CS- Paper temptress white diamonds, barely banana, brocade blue, Chloe's Closet dp
accessories- mega curved rectangle nesties, flowers, scallop punch, paper piercer, sewing machine, swiss dots cb folder


My card today also fills the Sweet N Sassy stamps DT challenge this week which is to use scripture on your card- inside or out. You can see the details of the challenge on the blog.

Check out the mojo Monday blog for the rest of the awesome mojo makers samples- some great inspiration there!

The SNSS Sr. DT members have some wonderful samples that they would love to share with you too:

Chris Dickinson
Courtney Fowler
Sandy Domelle
Korin Sutherland

Thanks for visiting me today, hope your day is wonderful!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

High Hopes Sneak peek!!!

I am so excited!! Tomorrow is a new high hopes release and can I just tell you that it is filled with such awesome adorable images. I know that they all are but seriously, you are in for a treat. I decided to show you my favorite image from this release. One of the reasons it is my favorite is because I had a little to do with the inspiration behind the image. I asked Crissy to draw a girl playing dress up with too big of shoes and a boa and she certainly delivered! Thanks Crissy, I totally love how you made the idea in my mind come to life on paper- love you!!!

So without further ado I give you:



I colored my image with copics. I was thrilled to find some sparkly fibers at my stamp store and I just new it would be perfect for the boa- what do you think? Her necklace was accented with liquid pearls, the hat was accented with stickles on the band and a rhinestone in the center of the flower.

closer look:


Supplies:
stamps- High hopes dress up
CS- GP white, Paper Temptress pink lemonade pop tones and eclipse black, PTI plum pudding
copics- RV10, RV14, E50, E00, R20, V12, V15, V17, C7, C9, black, E31, E33
accessories- pink sparkly fibers, pink rhineston, purple rhinestone brads, black primas, SU scallop punch, stickles, satin ribbon


The new releases will be up on the high hopes site some time during the wee hours of the morning so be sure to check out all the fabulous new on the high hopes web site. In the meantime visit the high hopes blog to see a list of the rest of the divas who have peeks to share with you.

Thanks for coming by today. Stop back tomorrow for the high hopes weekly challenge. Have a great day!

Hugs and blessings,

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sweet N Sassy April Round Up

Today is "tax day" here in the US which explains why I was not able to even get close to the post office yesterday when I wanted to mail a couple packages. Today is also a day for birthdays, 3 people that I know are celebrating their birthday today so birthday shout outs going to my cousin Mario, my friend Jen and my other friend Jessica. Now I know that Jess is a follower of my blog so "Happy Birthday Jessica, hope you are having a nice trip!" So I guess I should have made a birthday card for the Sweet N Sassy stamps April round up huh? Well my card is a general card so it could be used for a birthday too. Have a look:



I just can't seem to put this fabulous new Dream Silhouettes set from Sweet N Sassy stamps down! I love it and there are so many different ways to use it. You can create scenes with it, color on it using markers which I showed you on Monday, or use it in the bg stamping a sentiment or scripture over it. I think you will find this to be a great addition to your stamp collection!

Today I created what I call a Zindorf with a twist. Michelle has fabulous step by step tutorials on her blog. Now, I seem to be brayer challenged so I always sponge my scenes rather than brayer them. I combined my moonlight lake with the grid technique. To create the card I first made the grid using my scor-pal and making score lines diagonally at half inch intervals. I then sponged my sky and lake followed by stamping my images in black ink. I embellished my card by tying some satin ribbon at the top and adhering rhinestones in the scallops. The fabulous cardstock I used on the card is my favorite sparkly cryogen white from paper temptress and I also used some onyx metallic. One of the things that I like about Paper Temptress is that the paper is sold by the sheet so you can pick and choose what you want and you don't end up with a whole package of cardstock that does not get used up that you just had to have. I can tell you that I am well stocked on some of my colors that I don't think that I will ever use them up LOL! She does offer some packs of paper too so that you can save a little money too. BTW- the shipping is very reasonable too so be sure to check it out! There is also a new PT blog where you will find lots of inspiration and be able to see terrific samples using some of the beautiful papers.

Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Dream Silhouettes
ink- soft sky, baja breeze, blue bayou, not quite navy, black
CS- Paper temptress onyx metallic and cryogen white, SU soft sky
accessories- scor-pal, rhinestones, corner rounder punch, satin ribbon


The rest of the DT have some really great projects to show you today for the round up so I hope you can take a minute to visit the SNSS blog for some terrific inspiration.

Tomorrow, I am headed to PA to visit some of my fellow DT members but I will be scheduling a couple posts while I am gone.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Janette

Monday, April 13, 2009

Double challenge Monday

Hope you all had a nice Easter! Today I have combined my Monday Sweet N Sassy DT challenge with the mojo Monday sketch from Julee. Here is the fantastic sketch and my sample:





The Sweet N Sassy challenge this week is to make a thinking of you card and more challenge details can be found on the SNSS blog. I used my SU markers to color directly on my stamp and then stamped my image on cryogen white CS. I chose my favorite new release this month from SNSS called Dream Silhouettes. By coloring on my stamp I was able to customize my image and only stamp the part of the image that I wanted. I sponged around the image while still in the die and added stickles to accent the flowers.

Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Dream silhouettes, Winter at Home (sent)
CS- Paper Temptress Cryogen White, SU saffron, artichoke, patterned paper
accessories- Martha Stewart butterfly punch, corner rounder punch, pearls, button, stitched grosgrain, linen thread. stickles, SU markers


Check out the sketch details and all the other mojolicious samples from the rest of the awesome mojo makers on the mojo Monday blog.

My other terrific SNSS DT members have some great projects to show you as well:

Chris Dickinson
Courtney Fowler
Sandy Domelle
Korin Sutherland

Only 3 more days and then I get to spend some time with 3 of my fellow DT members from Sweet N Sassy stamps- Korin, Courtney and Teresa (who is also one of my fellow mojo makers too). I am super excited!! Now hopefully my family and I will be well by then. I am bummed to say that sickness has been in my house for almost a week now.

Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time today to visit my blog!

Hugs,

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!!

What a wonderful day! Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus my Savior rose from the dead- He lives!! A nice way to kick off the day is to share my high hopes challenge card for this week with you. This week the challenge is to pierce on your creation. The challenge is brought to us by the amazingly talented artist extraordinaire- high hopes illustrator, diva, and my good friend Crissy Armstrong. Here is my sample for you:



I colored my adorable little bunny with copics and chose my colors from the color challenge on SCS this week. I used my spica glitter pen to add some sparkle to the bow. My piercing is in the scallops.



Supplies:
stamps- High Hopes bunny with tulip
CS- cocoa, bliss blue, white, saffron dp
accessories- spica glitter pen, saffron ribbon, corner rounder punch, paper piercer tool, white gel pen, copics (R00, Ro2, R20, R32, E21, E31, E33, B21, B23, Y21, Y26)


Now I hope you will take just a minute and check out the high hopes blog to see the awesome designs that the rest of the divas have to show you. You will also find the prize and challenge info there as well.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful, blessed Easter day!

Monday, April 6, 2009

High Hopes Easter mojo

This is another wonderful mojo Monday and it is a CONTEST week! How fun that Julee once again is giving away 7 Verve sets and each of the mojo makers gets to judge a group. So you have 7 chances to win if you participate in this week's sketch. Here is the sketch and my sample:





I stamped my images and colored them with copics. I cut the bunny out and popped it up with pop dots. I sponged the rectangles while still in the nestabilities dies. I added some sparkle with my spica glitter pen on the bows and bunny ears and frosted lace stickles was added to the bunny tail. My card measures 5.25" square.



Supplies:
stamps- high hopes bunny with gift and easter basket, hanna stamps sentiment
CS- white, wasabi, sky dp
accessories- white brads, taffeta ribbon, spica glitter pen, frosted lace stickles, rectangle nestabilities, SU scallop circle punch, copics (C1, C3, BV00, R20, R32, YR00, YR04, G21, G24, BG10, BG72, E31, E33)


I hope that you are able to play along with the challenge this week. For some great inspiration from the mojo makers and for more info on the challenge and sketch please stop by the Mojo Monday blog.

Have a blessed day!

Sweet N Sassy Monday DT challenge 19

Hello everyone! I am the hostess of this week's Sweet N Sassy stamps DT challenge. Since we are now less than one week away from Easter I thought it would be fitting to have this week's challenge be to make an Easter card or project. I thought this might help us all finish up on our Easter creations.

I have a special sample to show you today. Now, it is not special because it is fancy or anything like that but it is special to me because it is the first card that my oldest daughter Rachel and I have made together. Take a look:



My daughter's class was doing a stamping unit in home ec and embossing was one of the projects. Well, the class ran out of time and Rachel had not gotten a chance to do hers so the teacher who is a friend of mine said she could do the project at home. So, Rachel did all the assembling of the card and I chose all the supplies and layout we would use. I need to keep a simple layout for her but I wanted to choose beautiful embellishments to compliment the elegance and beauty of the stamps. So, even though this is a simple card to make I still think it is rather elegant. The cross from the Elegant Blessings set and sentiment from the Easter lily set were embossed with gold detail embossing powder.

A close up of the beautiful shimmer in the paper. You can find the gold sparkle metallic and cryogen white that I used at Paper Temptress.



Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Easter lily and Elegant Blessings
CS- cryogen white iridescent, gold sparkle metallic from Paper Temptress
accessories- oval nesties, organdy ribbon, pearl, gold embossing powder


Be sure to check out some more fabulous projects to give you inspiration from the other Sr DT members:

Chris Dickinson
Courtney Fowler
Sandy Domelle
Korin Sutherland

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Sweet N Sassy blog hop day 3 and release party!

Today is the last day of the Sweet N Sassy blog hop. Hasn't the DT had some amazing samples this month? Well, it does help that we have some awesome stamp sets to work with! If this is your first stop, then be sure to go back and visit the SNSS blog and start there because you don't want to miss any of the samples. For my card today, I used the Dream Silhouettes set which I absolutely LOVE and did a combined challenge using Sandy's color challenge and Suzy's sketch challenge. Don't forget that you have a chance to win one of the new stamp sets by participating in the challenges.





Yesterday, I showed you the flower silhouette image with a sunset and today I have the grass image for you with a sunrise. To make my scene I created a mask from a post it note and first sponged the ground with olive. Then I sponged the sky using apricot, pumpkin, soft sky, baja breeze and not quite navy at the top. I then sponged chocolate chip on the bottom edge. I stamped my sun image so that it was half way up the horizon line. Finally I stamped the grasses several times in olive and the birds in choc chip. I scored two lines at the bottom of my card and stamped my "happy birthday" which is from the soon to be released birthday greetings set between them. I looked at my cards recently and saw that nearly every card contained ribbon so I was determined to try and make one without it so I left it off this one and let me tell ya it was tough LOL. However, this way I figured I could use it for a guy too.

Check out the inside which also uses one of the birthday greetings sentiment. I think that you will find this to be a great birthday set that you will reach for time and time again.



Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps Dream Silhouettes, birthday greetings
CS- olive, pumpkin, choc chip, soft sky, white
accessories- corner rounder punch, brown brads, paper piercer, scor-pal


Don't forget that tonight is the release party over in the Sweet N Sassy forum starting at 9PM EST- hope to see you there!

Also be sure to stop by the following blogs today for the hop. You are sure to finds lots of inspiration:
Courtney
Korin She has the 4th challenge posted!
Deb

Have a marvelous day!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Sweet N Sassy blog hop

Hi everyone! Welcome to day 2 of the Sweet N Sassy blog hop. This month Sweet N Sassy stamps has 4 terrific stamp sets being released and one of the sets is for a cause. This month we are doing things a little differently in that the challenges are being hosted on 4 of the DT members blogs rather than at the release party. You have a week to complete the challenges and there will be a random drawing from each challenge to determine the winner of the stamp set being given away. The release party is tomorrow (Friday April 3) night from 9-11PM EST in the SNSS forum. I hope you will be able to stop by for the fun!

I have 2 cards for you today (sorta). Well, I went to take a picture of the second one and discovered that my second battery for my camera is missing and the first one is dead and charging right now. My hubby is not going to be pleased with me :(. So, here is one to show you for now and this is for Chris' challenge which was to use a bird on your card.



I actually had a totally different post lined up but I found out that the projects I planned are being published in the debut issue of Christian Papercrafts magazine in June so I could not use it LOL. So you will all just have to check out the issue to see my projects LOL.

Anyway, I used my favorite set from this new release called Dream Silhouettes. This is just an awesome set. I used both of the main silhouette images for my cards. This first card uses the flower image. I sponged my sunset my using the following colors in order: saffron, summer sun, mustard, pumpkin, and tangerine. I then stamped my image in black and sponged the bottom black. The flowers were accented with my spica glitter pen. I sponge my bg rather than brayer it because for me I get better results. I used the sketch challenge on SCS yesterday for my layout. The black metallic paper and gold sparkle cardstock which are just so beautiful are from Paper Temptress. The black comes in both text and cardstock weight and I used the text weight since I was layering. The beautiful gold has such substantial weight to it that it also is great for your card bases.



Supplies:
stamps- Sweet N Sassy stamps dream silhouettes
CS- SU tangerine, whisper white; Paper Temptress gold sparkle, onyx metallic
accessories- paper piercer, spica glitter pen, satin ribbon, black brads, pop dots




Well, I hope to be able to edit this post with another card later. If you have not already been hopping then you will want to visit the sweet n sassy blog and start there. If you came here from Sandy's blog then your next stop is Jeanette who has some amazing things to show you! Also, three of the challenges have been posted so far and you can find them on Chris, Sandy, and Suzy's blogs.

Have a blessed day and happy hopping!