New Releases at DRS Designs!

Just wanted to let you know that the January releases at DRS Designs are now on the web site and ready for purchase. There are some awesome stamps in this month's release. I think this is my favorite release yet. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to play with mine yet so I don't have a card to share yet. I plan on putting in some heavy duty stamping time in the next week so hopefully I will have lots to share! Here are pics of a few of my favorite new releases:


Check out the rest of the new releases at the DRS Designs website HERE.

If you haven't signed up for my Blogoversary blog candy you still have time. Check it out HERE.
I promise I will try and get a photo of the candy posted later today.

Thank you to all of you for your kind words about my first day back to work. I'm still a little nervous but I'm sure that will fade as I get the hang of things.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Jacksonbelle Tuesday Challenge!

**Don't forget to sign up for my Blogoversary blog candy HERE!**

Welcome to the first Jacksonbelle Embellishments challenge of 2009. Every Tuesday, we will have a fun challenge and we would love it if you would play along. You don't have to use Jacksonbelle goodies on your card to play along, any stamps and supplies are ok. But if you are interested in saving some big $ on stamping supplies... Lindsey has put lots of new stuff in the *clearance* section to make room for the new releases from CHA. There are some AWESOME (and I do mean AWESOME) deals on Prima, Basic Grey, and lots more right now! Oh, don't forget that Jacksonbelle has 4 brand new Shimmerz Blingz EXCLUSIVE colors!

This weeks challenge is a sketch challenge. I have to warn you, I think my mojo may have decided that Florida was a much better place to live. I'm hoping it changes its mind and makes the long trek back to Wisconsin, LOL! This definitely isn't the mojoiest card I've ever made.
If you decided to play along with this weeks challenge, please link to the JBE blog and/or use the keywords: JBE034 when uploading to online galleries.

Here is this weeks sketch:

Here is my card:

Here is a close-up to show the Shimmerz/BlingzSupplies used: Inkadinkado stamps, Memory Box DP, SU CS, Prima ribbon, Coal Shimmerz, Poinsettia Blingz, Foam dimensionals.

For some more (and much better) inspiration, check out the blogs of the rest of the Jacksonbelle DT members:

Maren Benedict

Melissa Bove

Jennifer Buck

Jill Dunn

Kimberly O’Rosky

AJ Otto

Kisa Peters

Shannan Teubner

Michelle Woerner

Taylor Usry

Rachel Baird

Lynda Benden

Beth Thomas

Lindsey Botkin

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a fabulous day! If you live in Florida and find my mojo please contact me and I will give you the address to send it to, LOL!

Jacksonbelle has NEW colors of BLINGZ!!!!

** DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR MY BLOG CANDY IN THE PREVIOUS POST. YOU HAVE UNTIL SATURDAY!**

Good Monday morning to you all! I am so excited to announce the newest BLINGZ release that are ONLY availiable at Jacksonbelle Embellishments right now!! There are 4 new colors! Hi-Ho Silver, Flashee Fuschia, Hottie Pink and Pixie Dust!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Thanks for stopping by today!

I'm Home!!!! (and I have some blog candy!)

Well, I am finally home. Florida was absolutely wonderful and I actually shed a fear tears as we drove home today when I realized that I live in Wisconsin. I hate winter! I miss the sunny warm weather!
Vacation was awesome, but now that we are home I am TOTALLY stressed out. It is going to take me a month to unpack and organize our stuff and I have over 700 emails to sift through. Not to mention that I haven't stamped in over 2 weeks and I have tons of awesome new DRS Designs stamps and a mother load of Jacksonbelle Embellishment goodies sitting here waiting for me to use.
Oh and to top things off did I mention that I am starting a new job on Tuesday. I have been a stay at home mom for over 4 1/2 years and I'm starting a part time job working as a lab manager in a biochemistry lab at the UW. The hours are flexible and part time seems like a good way for me to slowly work my way back into the scientific community...
Oh and I also forgot to mention that less than half hour after we got home this afternoon, Beckett slipped and fell on our kitchen floor and knocked one of his front teeth loose...lots of blood, lots of crying, not fun! I had my sister take a look since she is a dental hygeintist and she thinks it will probably be ok....
Oh and then to add to my already skyrocketing stress when I logged in to my blog today I see the little sign saying...today is my blogoversary. How could I have forgotten about this. I wanted to have a little count down celebration and I totally missed doing that...heck I almost missed my blogoversary completely.
So even though there is no count down to my blogoversary celebration...I am still giving away some blog candy. Because I have only been home for a couple hours I don't have a picture of it yet but I'll assure you now that it will be a good one! (I'll try and post a picture by tomorrow night - If I'm not in a stress induced coma by then, LOL).
All you have to do for a chance to win is leave me a comment on THIS POST and tell me your favorite stress reducing activity. For all of you who are "Followers" of my blog, please leave a second comment for an extra chance to win. AND...if you want your name thrown into the pot a third time, just post a link to my blog on your blog and leave me comment telling me you did.
Easy as pie! I will leave this blog candy open for 1 week so you have until 5PM CST on Saturday January 10th to enter!

Thank you to all of you for making my first year of blogging such a success!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year's Eve!

OMG, I feel like I'm so out of touch. I have been without internet access for the past 5 days. We made it to our hotel in Tampa today and THANK GOD we finally have internet. I don't have much time right now but I wanted to tell you all about some fun going on at Jacksonbelle Embellishments tonight. There is a New Years Eve bash with Jacksonbelle Embellishments over on Papercraft Planet (PCP). There will be lots of chatting, challenges and PRIZES! All the action starts at 3pm EST -so I hope to see you there (I'm going to try and check back in after we get home from Busch Gardens).

I don't have enough time to post the challenge details here so definitely check out the fun in the PCP group or on the Jacksonbelle blog. I did make cards for the 4 challenges before we left Wisconsin so my cards are posted below. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #4 Birthday cards

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #3 Neglected Stamps

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #2 Black and White

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #1 Ring in the New Year

Happy Christmas Eve! (a little early)

I'm posting this a few hours early because I have an appointment at 7am in the morning (which is when I usually do my blog posting) to give blood at the annual Christmas Eve blood drive that they have here in Madison. My sister and I are trying to make this a tradition. Last year we chose late afternoon appointments and we waited FOREVER so this year we decided to take the first ones of the day...what in the world were we thinking. It sounded good several months ago when we scheduled the appointments but now that it is almost here, the thought of getting up and out of my house by 6:30am sounds near impossible. Wish me luck!

Today I have another card that I made using the QKD butterfly stamp. Just like yesterday's card, I was going for a crisp, clean, simple look. I think I got that with this card. I was actually really pleased with how this one turned out. What do you think?Supplies used: Stamps from Queen Kat Designs, SU CS, Sharpie marker, Hero Arts self adhesive gems, Cuttlebug folder.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! Thanks for stopping by!

SNOW, SNOW, GO AWAY....

and please don't come back ...EVER. We have gotten way way too much snow already this year. After getting more than a foot of snow in the past week they are calling for 4-6 more inches tonight and 4-6 more inches tomorow. To make it even worse our temperatures are still sub zero. Thank Goodness we are escaping on Friday to Florida for a warm and sunny family vacation!
Until then I'm going to continue to dream of my favorite things about summer...warm temperatures, sun, and butterflies! You all know that butterfly stamps are my absolute favorite, and I have a bunch of new butterflies that I haven't even inked up yet so starting today I am going to share a few butterfly cards to help boost my attitude until I can leave this frozen state for the sunny beaches of Florida.
For today's card I was going for clean and simple. This butterfly was just calling for me to cut it out and pop it up, LOL!

Supplies used: Stamps from Queen Kat Designs, SU CS, Basic Grey DP, Hero Arts black rhinestones, Bic marker.

Thanks for stopping by today! Even though we are going on vacation, I'm hoping to have blog posts scheduled while I am gone.
Oh and don't forget Jacksonbelle Embellishments will be hosting some awesome New Year's Eve challenges that you won't want to miss! I will have those scheduled to post also!
Hope you all have a wonderful day!

DRS Blog Challenge #11

It's time for another DRS Designs blog challenge!!
Tis the season for......BLING!!! Yes, you guessed it today's challenge is all about bling!!! We would love for you to play along with our challenges and I'm pretty sure almost everyone can play along with this one...you can use jewels, sparkly paper, shiny ribbon...whatever you consider bling goes!!! If you play, please come back and leave a direct link to your project. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword DRSC11. There are no time limits and anyone can play. Don't have any DRS Designs images yet (because they are in the mail right?!) that's ok, you can still play! Tell a friend...the more the merrier!

Check out the awesome inspiration from the rest of the design team at the DRS Designs blog.

Here is my bling-filled card:Supplies used: Stamp from DRS Designs, SU CS, Basic Grey DP, SU ribbon, Michael's self adhesive rhinestones.

I hope you all have a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments!

Lindsey announced her new Jacksonbelle Embellishments DT yesterday, and I'm excited to say that my name is on the list! WOOHOO!!!!!

If you aren't familiar with Jacksonbelle Embellishments I highly recommend you drop whatever you are doing and "run" to her store, LOL! Lindsey carries pretty much all of my favorite products...Inkadinkado, Shimmerz, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, May Arts, October Afternoon and lots, lots more. It is a one stop shopping experience. You can find everything you need there, plus all orders over $75 have free shipping! Oh and I forgot to mention that the service is unbeatable. Lindsey is a dear and she ships really fast!

Congrats to all the other wonderful ladies who’ve also landed on the team — I am humbled to be included in such an awesomely talents group of ladies.

The Jacksonbelle Embellishments design team:

Maren Benedict

Melissa Bove

Jennifer Buck

Jill Dunn

Heather Lee-Reppen (that's me)

Kimberly O’Rosky

AJ Otto

Kisa Peters

Shannan Teubner

Michelle Woerner

Then of course the executive team:

Rachel Baird

Lynda Benden

Beth Thomas

Our first team challenge will be a fun New Year’s Eve party!!! There will be lots of fun and prizes! The details will follow soon!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sale at Firecracker Designs!!!!

There is a sale going on at Firecracker Designs ... from now until Christmas Day you can take 5$ off every order over $15.00!! Use coupon code: 5$OFF (all one word)!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day! It is freezing cold here (wind chill temps as low as -30) so I am stamping in my pjs all day. I don't go out in weather like this!

O Summer, Where Art Thou?

Cold...Snow...Freezing Rain...School Closings...Shoveling...Wind Chills...Subzero temperatures...that about sums up the week we've had here in Wisconsin. To make things even worse they are calling for 12 more inches of snow tonight. YUCK! Winter hit hard and early this year. I am SO not a cold weather person. To help boost my gloomy winter spirit I decided to make a card that at least reminds me of the warm, happy days of summer.
This card uses the newly released "You're Invited" stamp along with some of my other summer favorites! Oh how I wish I was going to a backyard barbecue instead of going out to shovel yet more snow...
Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Sharpie and Prismacolor markers, Shimmerz paints, Cuttlebug embossing folder, brads.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a warm and sunny day!

Non-traditional colors

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I thought I would share 2 more Chin Up snowman cards that I made with my design team set this month from Firecracker Designs. For both of these cards I went with non-traditional Christmas/Winter colors. Winter hit early and hard in Wisconsin this year and I've been suffering from the winter weather blues. I thought maybe I would try and cheer myself up with some bright, fun pinks and oranges. This snowman stamp is just so stinkin cute and I love the pink/orange combo with it!

Supplies used: Chin Up snowman from FCD, SU CS, Fancy Pants DP, Sharpie markers, MS snowflake punch, self adhesive rhinestones, foam dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, MM brads, misc ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another FCD snowman card

I know this is my 2nd blog post today but I couldn't resist sharing another card that I made with the Chin Up snowman set from Firecracker Designs. This is my design team set this month and I have had such a fun time playing with this cute snowman. For this card I used some of the scraps of red glittered paper that I used on my TTIC card a few days ago. I love when I use scraps that are just laying on my stamp table! It is a really simple layout but I'm happy with how it turned out!Supplies used: Chin Up snowman set from FCD, SU CS, Glittered paper from Target (sorry I don't know the brand off the top of my head), Sharpie markers, Offray ribbon, foam dimensionals, red glitter.

Hope you are all having a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

Simple masculine card

Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Prismacolor pencils, Shimmerz paint, twill tape from Bobbin Ribbon, foam dimensionals, Basic Grey brads.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Amazing...

the world's most sewing challenged person was actually able to thread a sewing machine and get it to work properly. If you knew how incredibly inept I am when it comes to sewing you would be truely amazed! I've tried a few times (very unsuccessfully) over the years to work a sewing machine. The problem is, I have seen so many beautiful cards with sewing on them and the closest I could ever get was some stitching rub-ons. About 6 months ago I borrowed my grandmother's sewing machine from my mom in hopes of getting over my fear of sewing failure. A couple days ago while I cleaning up my stamp room I spied the sewing machine cover (covered in dust) under my table. I decided to pull it out and maybe try and thread it. The sewing machine is a Janome and has around 8 basic stitches. It took me a while but I actually got the needle threaded and THANKFULLY there was already a bobbin of thread in the bottom (not sure I could handle having to do to much). I can't even explain how giddy I was when I realized that I might have actually threaded it correctly. I decided to take the plunge and try it out. It took a few tries but I actually got the hang of sewing 2 pieces of paper together. I am SO proud that I can finally do what probably every 7th grader on the planet has already mastered....I can thread a sewing machine and sew a straight line, LOL.

So here is my FIRST EVER sewing card:

Supplies used: Chin Up snowman from Firecracker Designs by Pamela, SU cardstock, Fancy Pants DP, MS snowflake punch, Shimmerz angel wings, SU dazzling diamonds glittter, Sharpie markers...and a sewing machine!!!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a terrific day!

TTIC #11 A Very Cullen Christmas

It's Tuesday and I'm excited...how can that be? Reason #1 - it's a snow day! No school, so we don't have to leave the house (or even get out of our pjs). Reason #2 - it is time for a Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge. The what challenge, you say? Well...Tonya from Stamp Happens has an AWESOME challenge every Tuesday called the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge (and she even has an awesome DT to go along with it!). As most of you know I am sort of a late bloomer when it comes to Twilight but late bloomer or not I am totally in love with this series of books and Edward Cullen. I first came to know of TTIC from one of my stamping/blogging friends Rebecca. I had been reading her blog for a while and was always intrigued by her Twilight projects. I finally decided to read the book to see what all the to-do was about. OMG...or should I say OME (Oh My Edward!)....I LOVED the books! Actually LOVED is a bit of an understatement...I read 4 books (and saw the movie twice) in less than a week. All I can say is THANK YOU REBECCA!!!
This week the challenge is "A Very Cullen Christmas". Before I say anything else I want to say that this card looks MUCH better in real life than it does in the photo. I took over 50 photos with and without flash and the glittered paper just doesn't photograph well.
For my Cullen inspired Chirstmas card I went with Elegant and well...Sparkly, of coarse!
I just bought this glittered paper at Target yesterday and thought this would be the perfect project for it. I embossed the red glitter paper with the Cuttlebug and then sanded it a little so the embossed pattern was a little more recognizable. It is really a shame that I can't get a good photo. I was really happy with how this turned out. Supplies used: Stamp from DRS Designs, SU CS, Glittered paper, Dress It Up glitter dots, white embossing powder, foam dimensionals, Nestibilities, misc. satin ribbon.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

DRS Blog Challenge #10

It's time for another DRS Designs blog challenge. The challenge this week is Christmas Ornaments. We would love to have you play along with the challenge. If you do please post a link to your project or use keyword DRSC10 when you upload to SCS or PCP.

For my ornaments, I painted chipboard snowflakes with Shimmerz Blingz. After they were dry I stippled ink over them and stamped the DRS Designs stars background. I also painted some Prima flowers with Shimmerz Blingz and added them to the centers with brads.
They are really beautiful in real life but very difficult to photograph. Let me know what you think.

Without flash:

With flash:Supplies used: Star background stamp from DRS Designs, Maya Road chipboard snowflakes, Shimmerz Blingz, Prima flowers, Basic Grey brads, SU classic ink.

I hope you are all having a terrific start to your week. Thanks for stopping by!