Jenn Balcer

HELLO, Friday! I don’t think I’ve been so happy to see a Friday in a while! It’s been a long couple of weeks ’round these parts. I keep hitting The Wall lately, and pretty much collapsing until it’s time for dinner. I wake up and feel like I have SO much still to do and have not rested at all. I’m looking forward to this weekend as we’re celebrating Mother’s Day with my side of the family. Should be lots of fun . . . and I can probably convince my sister to cook for me!

One of the things I look forward to when Friday rolls around? Beate’s sketch. Sometimes it’s a stretch, but most of the time it’s FUN! This is my take on this weekend’s sketch. Make sure to check in on Beate, Cami, Charmaine, Laurie, Lori, Mary Jo, and Sharon to see what they’ve created. They always have good stuff to see!

Last night, I made this card and the one below while watching a movie (when I should have been working on other stuff). The butterfly and bright colors and flowers worked, I think. The movie? Bella. Wow. I’d picked up the DVD at my mom’s suggestion. She and Dad went to a special showing with the producer and actors when they were here in San Antonio promoting the movie, and both of them said that it was one of the most amazing movies they’d ever seen. It was. If you like movies with substance and a message, no violence, nudity, or bad language, and a good love story that goes way beyond a man and woman, you’ve gotta get this movie. (disclaimer: there are subjects I’m not ready to discuss in detail with my kids just yet, though. Read the Amazon link for more info.) I love to watch fluffy, light romantic movies (and this one is not that) . . . . but this one, this is one story that will stay with you for a long time.

If you’d like to know what was used, let me know and I’ll edit this post to include info. Otherwise, have a happy weekend!

Edited to add stuff per your comments and emails. Thanks for visiting!

Card one patterned paper is from Scenic Route (Love the weight of that paper!) layered on SU! palette of prints.

Butterfly & flowers by ? - I need to check the package! Bling is Kaiser. Letters are Roller Rink Thickers by American Crafts.

Card two’s layered green flower is by Petaloo, and has a brad in the middle from  K & Co. The ribbon is Making Memories. Rub-on is Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves and came from a tin full of uplifting rub-ons.

Aren’t these the sweetest little goldfish? When I saw this weekend’s sketch from Beate, I knew I wanted to use this stamp set that I won in the door prize drawing last weekend. I *love* the sweet stuff that’s included in it and couldn’t wait to play! Thank you, Joy & Daisy!

Make sure to check in on Beate, Cami, Charmaine, Laurie, Lori, and Mary Jo and see what they’ve created, too. They always have beautiful stuff!

The fish bowl is easily manipulated into an oval shape. I just pulled out a package of oval Nestabilities, placed one under my big acrylic block, and it as a guide. After the stamp was inked and the image colored and glittered, I closely trimmed it, but then thought it needed something else (isn’t that always the case?), so I adhered a clear report cover just at the top and bottom. I covered the little bit of glue I could see with rhinestones and ribbon, and had a great clear finish over the fishbowl that made me happy, but didn’t make the card fussy.

Supplies

Stamps: Sushi Party Bowl - eclectic Paperie exclusive by Stampendous

Ink: Palette Noir, Copics, Spica glitter pens, dimensionals, sewing machine

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Glossy White, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise Palette of Prints, American Crafts polkadots

Accessories: Kaiser rhinestones, acetate, ribbon by A Muse

Thank you for visiting, and for your kind comments - it’s so nice to “sea ya”!

There’s been a lot going on this past week, and not a lot of time to create. Y’all know I’m a Texas girl, through and through, right? This weekend, there’s a big shindig up in Arlington, and I can’t wait for the break. I hop on a plane early this afternoon and will meet up with friends to do a little shopping before enjoying dinner with more friends! FUN! Well, I needed to work on getting a card or project together for Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge, and needed to get a gift certificate together. . . so I killed two birds with one stone. Here’s part of my door prize contribution for this weekend’s gathering (and I really, really need to move my OTT lamps from the poker room to my office, or not wait ’til the last minute to get pictures!):

here’s the fun part, the card opened:

I used an Urban Lily secret keeper card for the card base. It’s pre-decorated and has a different pattern on both sides. I liked the multicolored polka dots on the reverse, but the black swirly design didn’t work with what I wanted, so I just adhered the Prima patterned paper to it, leaving a bit of the black border peeking out. The layered piece on front is just that - it only is on the front and does not wrap around. The “you” is stamped with my favorite alphabet from a muse and adhered to the vertical strip only.

After I had everything adhered, I added the jumbo felt rickrack and black satin ribbon with polka dots from my stash. It needed *something*, so I relied on my trusty Kaiser rhinestones (I’ve been a huge fan of these since I got them in a kit last year. . . they’re so fun and so easy to use and now at eclectic Paperie!) to add that *something*. I hand wrote the value of the gift certificate inside and added redemption information on the reverse. I hope the recipient likes it!

I haven’t seen the secret keeper cards around in stores since I bought these, so if you like the look of this card, check out this thread - Amy made a template!

Whew. That was a lot of blahblah! Thanks for stickin’ around and reading, and make sure to check in on Beate, Cami, Charmaine, Laurie, Lori, Mary Jo, and Sharon. I think I’ll just wait to see Sharon’s tonight, in person!