Celebrate Good Times!

Okay, the major stress is over! School is out for the year... can you believe it???? I certainly was ready except that I didn't get my room all in order yet. Still gotta go back in to do that but other than than, we are officially on a more relaxed schedule! Mornings will not be rushed and afternoon naps may be reinstated! Lots of swimming and playing is mandatory!!!! Maybe even some laziness mixed in (well, as much as can be allowed with 2 little kids running around!). I might get some scrapping and artwork done this summer as well... maybe. Why don't toddlers understand the need to go play in a safe and quiet manner for more than 2 seconds!
Right now I'm working on some new CHA stuff for Couture Cardstock that I can't share yet until CHA comes and goes! Sorry for the tease, but I'm working hard on it! I also have some awesome news... I was asked back to the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker DT for a 2nd year!!!!!! So EXCITED!!!! Nikki is so wonderful to design for! Her papers, stamps, and embellies are adorable and so versatile! I love her designs! So, I'm so excited to get the first group of new papers!!! Here is a sneaky peek of one of her collections debuting at CHA:

Blueberry Hill

Isn't that sweet??? LOVE the colors and that circle die as totally adorable!!! So can you see why I'm excited?? I have seen a few other of her new lines and can tell you that they are even cuter and more versatile, if that's possible!! I'm working on more new things with Nikki's papers too and maybe even combine Nikki and Couture Cardstock for a fun layout or two!!
Here are a few newish Couture Cardstock pages that I can post now.

Journey

Supplies: Bonbon cardstock & Cosmo Cricket Joyride papers, Martha Stewart ribbon, Riptide Glimmer Mist, punches (Fiskars hole punches & EK hole border punch)Remnants of Fall
I love the neutral color of the Confectionary line so I decided to use die cuts and punches of leaves and add some textures mixed with some patterned papers for a "fallen leaves on the ground" look.
Supplies: Nougat, Hot Chocolate, Hazelnut, Fudge, Bon bon, Fondue, and Caramel cardstock. Cosmo Cricket Joyride papers. EK, Martha Stewart and Fiskars punches. Cuttlebug dies and texture folders. Cosmo Cricket chipboard button letters. Martha Stewart ribbon. Glimmer Mist (Tattered Leather and Coffee Shop).

Happy Day

This is quite linear for me, but I wanted to use multiple photos and thought I'd keep it simple.

Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Joyride, Canvas cardstock, Cosmo Cricket button letter, Adirondack paint, American Crafts ribbon.

We

I used punches to make the borders that layered with patterned paper from the Cosmo Cricket Joy Ride line. Kind of a play off my "Layers" page from last month but more linear.

U R Here

OMG.. did I have fun with this one! I started with Fondue paper and added paints, glimmer mists, more paint, more glimmer mist, die cut remnants, and a multitude of other things to this artwork.
The photo is from a big map in an ice cream parlour in Anna Maria Island, FL... where everyone that visits leaves their map pin in their hometown! So colorful and fun!

Supplies: Fondue cardstock, paints (FolkArt, Adirondack, Golden), Glimmer Mist (Marshmellow, Cinder, Pashmina, Lime), Cuttle bug die cut letters and texture folder in dots, bubblewrap, punches (EK, Fiskars, and hole punch), Tiny Attacher.

That's it for now! Off to lay by the pool... okay, maybe not lay... I'll be chasing a one year old around! BUT there is always nap time!!!!

NSD winner and Couture Cardstock artwork

You have all been patient with me ! I have been way too busy with kids and work. Hubby is out of town to California for "work". I put that in quotes because, let's face it, being wine and dined in beautiful San Francisco and Napa Valley without kids or home responsibilities sounds delightful to me right now. I'm in charge of ALL things home and elementary art related. Today was an exhausting day... here's a summary of my whirlwind of a day:
It was an absolute crazy day!!! I didn't stop running for even a second from 5:15 am (when Christopher woke up crying) till now (9:30 pm)!!! I hopped in the shower while he was fussing in his crib so I could at least get a shower, he quieted down and I dried my hair... hair dryer won't blow hot or even warm airnow... damn! Then, I got dressed, got him dressed and fed, got Mark up and fed, out the door at 8am, to daycare, to my school, prepped 5 grade level's lessons, taught crazy class schedule today due to testing in various grade levels, had the worst group of 6th graders doing my grant project (which made a HUGE mess... bless the girls that stayed to
help clean up!) and home to pack the car up with the last of the garage sale stuff. Run over to mom's where the kids were and unpack car, price, organize, and set up sale stuff while mom ran after the kids and fed them, home to do baths and bedtimes (at 7:30-8pm) and then doing laundry because Mark has no socks and needs his baseball uniform for photos tomorrow! Wheww ... even writing it makes me tired! I am relaxing a bit doing some work and then off to bed for me by 10:30pm to do it all over again tomorrow! If I hadn't taken so much time off for sickness earlier this year, I would take Friday off for stress relief! I can't do it tomorrow because I have Kindergarten and need to do the grant thing with the 2nd set of 6th graders who hopefully
will be more cooperative. Calgon take me away!!!

Okay, if you are still reading this, then you are awesome! I'm gonna share some pages I did with my first papers from Couture Cardstock DT. In April, they partnered with Prima for an amazing combination! Here is one of my projects... I will post the others when I get the okay:

Layers
Just as the title says... layering with papers, distressing, textures.

Okay, now the winner of my little RAK pack (stamps, stickers, buttons, and papers from one of the Nikki Sivils lines)....


Erika M. said...

I really love the whimsical designs of Nikki's paper!

May 2, 2010 7:55 AM

Send me an email with your addy this weekend and I'll get that out to you early next week!

XOXO

Jen

Happy National Scrapbook Day!

It's National Scrapbooking Day today and I'm late in posting this! I scrapped with some great friends last night at our local Scrap store, Stampin' and Scrappin' Time in Bridgeport, NY! It was a blast as usual... lots of food, laughs, honest discussion, venting, and creating! I didn't get much done but it felt so good to get out and hang with my peeps!

I have alot going on right now in the creating world. I am working on many different projects for both Couture Cardstock and Nikki Sivils! Can you believe that my term at Nikki's is almost up? I am part of her inaugural team and I'm excited to say that she is hosting another DT call now! Here are the details on her blog. If you love her products and lines as much as I do, you probably have a hard time picking a favorite line, but if you leave a comment over on her blog or here you can be eligible for a NSD RAK. I know I'm late the the scene tonight so I will be giving away a RAK in case her's ends before you comment. Leave a comment here about what you love about Nikki Sivils papers or products and I will give away a little goodie bag of Nikki products including burlap buttons, pocket of stickers, and a stamp set!

Hope you are sitting down and making some art or scrapping right now in celebration of our crafty holiday! Have a happy NSD and May Day!

XOXO girls Challenge #6

Have you been over to XOXO girls challenge blog yet? NO, well get yourselves over there and lift a project! That's right, it's a scraplifting blog. You look at the DT work and pick out anything that you like to lift. Colors catching your eye? Bling bling? What about the design of the page? Using a certain material? Well, you are the artist... you decide! AND link your creation up to the post with the name of the layout or project that inspired you and you could win a prize! Sound good? Head on over to XOXO... Time is almost out for this challenge, so get your scrappy bootie in gear!

New stuff...

I have been so behind in posting my new work. I thought maybe I would submit some to a magazine that wants never before seen work, but I have a hard time not sharing my work immediately. It's the gratification thing. I like to share. I love when people comment! I love commenting on other's work! So, I will share my newest Nikki Sivils projects with you now and then a few other projects that I finished this past month!

I adore the new products from Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker!

"Fly"

I love layers of papers and textures. I used lots of scraps for the layers here of the various Flaming Butterflies line! It needed more texture (IMO) and I had a coffee sleeve so I ripped that up and added that to give some interest. The Cutie Cut Ups are so fun to cut out for embellishments. The colors in this line are so bright and bold!Here's a detail of the layers.

Next up is a layout from Willow Bee line. I love the graphics in this line.The honeycombs and the bees are so fun! I knew I wanted to do a page about my husband and his love of singing under the influence... LOL. He always sings "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" at weddings and with friends. It's a riot and cute. So, I started with a distressed piece of cardboard (from my mailing box- nothing goes wasted in this house!) for my back ground. I cut some of the honeycombs out from the Cut Ups sheet and layed them out on the cardboard face down. I sprayed with Cinder and Mimosa glimmer mist. After it dried, I removed them and used them on the page right side up. The papers are from the line but also from the 6" x 6" book of papers too which are the same designs only smaller for card makers or mini albums. I love to mix the small and large prints.For the letters, I used foam Thickers and Stickles. The diamond colored ones were perfect for sugar and the Marigold distressed Stickles were great for honey! I also used a 10" circle die cut paper for the top... I just cut it in half.

One more to share...

"Luck banner"

I create this little banner with accordian flowers ( you can find a tutorial here) and lots of little punched and cut out embellishments. The clovers are made with a little heart punch that I punched 3 times and then hand cut a stem. I glued them to the back of the burlap button to make the clover. Easy Peasy! The letters are Rusty Pickle and glitter added. All the papers are Nikki Sivils- My Sweet Cherry Pie, North Pole Lights, and Henry's Brillance. Punch holes in edges and tie with ribbon! A cute St. Patrick's Day decor!

Here is a layout that I did using Studio Calico's February kit. I think it was a sketch challenge over there but I didn't get it in time, so I just did it for fun.
It's kind of linear for me, but I like the papers in the kit and painted the letters for this layout with a soft pink. It's a soft layout and the photo is from back before I had kids! It was a girl's weekend out at Niagra on the Lake at a spa named the Pillar and Post. Those were good times! I ws much more relaxed then. I did treat myself to a "me day" yesterday. I went to Weight Watchers (lost another 1.2 lbs!) and the gym (Ouch!). I then went and got a manicure/ pedicure- sigh... so blissful! Lastly, I cropped the rest of the day and night with my good friend (the kind that makes your sides hurt laughing so much), Sherry. While she offered up her house (with no kids or husbands!), food, and time, we created stuff and laughed. I was so relaxed and happy! We ordered Chinese food for dinner and drank beer. YUM! I finished a mini album and she did a ton of cards and a project for classes she is teaching. I felt renewed and it was so needed! Thanks Sherry!!! HUGS!

Today is the last day for official hockey season for Mark. Matt got skates and a helmet so he can skate with Mark today. They did offer an additional 10 week session so we will be doing that in addition to T-ball in the spring. It's gonna be a busy week.... I better get going to cheer on my guys!

XOXO
Jen

Winner!

Thank you all for participating in the Blog Crawl with Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup, and Nikki Sivils! I enlisted the random number generator to pick a number from the comments to give my lovely garland away to and the random number was:

And that means... the winner is:

Donna E. said...

this is BEAUTIFUL!!!
thanks for the chance to win :)

Thank you for the kind words Donna! Email me (mmatott@twcny.rr.com) with your addy and I'll get it out to you! For the rest of you, stay tuned for another giveaway on my blog soon of some Nikki Sivils goodies... I will be giving some products away in the coming weeks! Thanks for visiting and I hope you will return to see what new things I'm making!

XOXO
Jen

Blog Crawl Ya'll!!

It's here! The Tri- blog crawl... What's a blog crawl, you ask? Well, it's a following of a bunch of fantastic blogs that are giving away some even more amazing prizes! There are 3 large giveaways at each of the manufacturers - Bella Blvd., Jillibean Soup, and Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker... Click on each one and go there to leave a comment and find all the other design team girls that are giving away handmade goodies. Now... before you go, check out what I made to give away.

"Spring Garland"

I whipped together this adorable garland. Garlands are all the rage right now. They were everywhere at CHA and I love them! I used pieces from three of Nikki's lines: Willow Bee, Flaming Butterfly and My Sweet Cherry Pie. The papers go so well together!! I love her graphics and fun patterns. So, I will be giving this approximate 6 foot long garland away to a lucky random poster. Leave me a comment about what you look forward to for spring this year or just say "hi"! Then, go and visit the other blogs and DT members to leave comments there. You have ALL weekend to do this so no rush but don't miss out on any of the goodies being given away. I will announce my winner on Monday (after school... so that's 3pm EST). enjoy!

PS.. this is open to all countries... US or International! GOod Luck!

XOXO
Jen

You are invited!!!

This is so exciting.. there will be lots of fun and handmade giveaways! Join us at any of the blogs for these companies... Here is Nikki's blog link: Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker
Here's what Nikki says:
"What is a Blog Crawl you might be asking... Well, on March 5th you'll come to my (Nikki's) blog and you'll see a gift that Jillibean Soup is giving away on my blog, along with a handmade gift from me and a list of the design team girls that will be giving handmade gifts away using our products, you'll leave a comment at each blog & then move on through the list. Then you'll head over to Bella Blvd and see the gift that Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker will be giving away over there, along with a list of Bella Blvd's design team ladies and you'll do the same thing. Next you'll head over to Jillibean Soup and see the gift that Bella Blvd is giving away, along with all of Jillibean Soups DT gals, leave a comment then go to the next. There are over 50 handmade gifts and product giveaways!! Don't panic b/c you'll have the entire weekend of March 5th to visit all the blogs and leave a comment for a gift... it's an entire weekend of blogging and giveaways! We'll announce all the winners Monday morning!! Doesn't that sound like fun??!!

Us 3 ladies have become good friends and thought this would be an awesome way to bring 3 great manufacturers together for one fun event! We are all so excited!!"

I couldn't have said it better... I can't wait to unveil my little "prettie" that I will be giving away.
This is great fun and I hope you will join us!!! Check back Friday for pictures and a chance to win!

New Nikki Sivils!

It's CHA time again and there are 6 new lines that Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker is releasing. They are amazing! I got to work with the first one and it is such a fun line! Check out all the papers and goodies on Nikki's website.




Aren't they delish? I am so excited to get to work with the Willow Bee and Flaming Butterfly!!! They are my favorites so far! I got to work with the Will He B The 1 line for the CHA booth and had a great time with those fun papers! I have some left and have some great ideas to make more with!!!
Here are some of my favorite new things coming out from Nikki:

New Stamps! Love this set with the cloud and sunflowers!!! So sweet!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE these buttons! They are genius! So cute ... cute as a button!
Brand new stickers that match her lines... so fun and cute in their pockets!

So run and don't walk to her site to check it out!

I'll be revealing my creations soon!

XOXO

Jen

My Top 10 or maybe 20....

I did a year in review of my creations last year and thought that it was a good way to reflect on my improvement in style and the techniques I've used, the themes that came up, and the design that I improved on. So, I've picked the top 10 (or so...) favorite layouts or artworks that I've done this year. I just couldn't stop at 10...

























I've had a productive year, but all in all, I know I have room for improvement. I hope 2010 brings fresh ideas, rockin' mojo, and lots of opportunities to get my artwork out there... with exhibits, DT jobs, and some publications. I have a good feeling about this year!

XOXO

jen