Christmas Wishes For One and All

Just wanted to stop by and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  May the day be filled with lots of joy, laughter, good food, family, and friends. Don't forget to take some picutes to help you remember this time in your life and all the little memories that you make throughout the day. I know I will.  :)  These snapshots I take are little glimpses into my life and how I chose to celebrate this amazing, wonderful, special holiday that we call Christmas.

 "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

(Luke 2:11, 14)

In that spirit, I wanted to share the Christmas cards I made this year. There were so many great stamps that came out this year and I had so many ideas rolling around in my head that I decided that instead of making the same card over and over and over again, I would make lots of different designs and only make about a dozen of each. So that is what I did.

"Merry Christmas Holly"

This is my favorite card of all the cards I made this year. To create the holly piece, I first stamped the Hero Arts Classic Holly cling stamp onto a 3.5 x 3.5 inch square of Bazzill cardstock with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. I heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder. I then made my own watercolor paints with Ranger Distress inks and Perfect Pearls Perfect Pearl powder mixed with water.  I used  Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, and Tumbled Glass Distress inks. I then inked up my favorite background stamp, the Friend Definition from Hero Arts with Pumice Stone Distress ink and inked over the entire image. I finished off the piece by distressing around the edge of it using the Tonic Edge Distresser and a bit of Pumice Stone ink. I also added a red cardstock border and a stamped sentiment to the card to finish it off.

"Warmest Wishes House"

This is another one of my favorites. I really loved this set of holiday houses by Hero Arts. I stamped and head embossed this house in gold and then colored it in with my Copic markers, I then cut the the house out and I also diecut 2 pieces with the Tim Holtz Alterations Ornamental Die. I drew a snow slope on one and cut out the bottom piece. I then added glitter to my 'slope' with white paint and set it aside to dry. I heat embossed the pine tree from the same house set with a metallic green embossing powder from American Crafts and the 'Warmest Wishes' from a holiday sentiment set from Hero Arts. I then used Tumbled Glass Distress ink and my inking tool to color the background of the full diecut piece and stamped small snowflakes from the house set with the Tumbled Glass ink. I finally pop dotted the glittery snow piece to my card and tucked the house in behind the slope. I finished the card by running my gold leafing pen around the edge of the blue piece to give the piece some extra shine and adding Frosted Lace Stickles to the snow peaks of the house.

Well it is getting super late so I will be back later this weekend to share more of my Christmas cards.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Janeen

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hello all my blog friends and readers.  It has been a whirlwind of a month around here between the decorating, the holiday crafting, the festive events, and lots of time spent with the family. I have enjoyed it so much this year and there is still more to come in the next few weeks. I so can't wait...

So I thought I would pop on here and share a few of my holiday going-ons this season with you.

My young adult group at Pathway held an "everything cliche" Christmas party last week. We wore tacky christmas sweaters, had a white elephant gift exchange, and enjoyed all the fun festive foods that this season brings. The above pictures are from the tacky Christmas sweater contest. I ended up winning first place with my twinkling lighted sweater and they just had to turn off all the lights to admire it. :) 

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This was the Manheim Steamroller concert that I went to with my family at the Embassy. It was a lot of fun seeing how they create all the different sounds that go into their music and it was a very festive and fun concert. :)

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This weekend we also had our family Christmas parties....I got to see a ton of my aunts, uncles, and cousins and catch up with them. It is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. :)

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Lots and lots of decorating...the tree, cookies, our outside lights....gotta love all the festive trimmings that you see this time of year.

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I have also been busily working on my Christmas cards this year. I will try to get some pictures of them tomorrow and get them up on the blog to share with you all. :)

Until then....Merry Christmas,

Janeen

100 Books

Have you read more than six of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.
Here is my list...

The ones in Bold are ones I have read.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings -Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (most of it...in high school English)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahamn
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

That makes 19 that I have read....there are a few on the list that I would really like to read. Maybe I will start reading one this week. :)

Thankful for....

Okay this is Monday and Tuesday's post because yesterday was just plain crazy....subbed all day in Kendallville (first grade) and then came home for an hour before running off to Archiver's for the evening shift.

Monday - I am thankful for my two jobs...even though they exhaust me sometimes. :)

Tuesday - I am thankful for all my amazing, fabulous friends who are always there for me and who I can spend hours with just chatting everything under the sun. :)

A Week of Thankfulness

This week, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I would share what I am thankful for on my blog.  God is so good and I want to take the time to reflect on all that he has given me.

One of the things that I am most thankful for is my church family through Pathway Community Church. Whether it be my small group gals led by Tammy, or the super-cool Threefold group that I meet with on Thursday nights, or simply all the friends I have made  through the church, they have all impacted my life in such huge and tremendous ways.  I would not be who I am or where I am without them and this is a shout out to all of them, whereever they are, that I am truly blessed to consider them my friends!

Popping in...

to say that I have not been feeling very well this weekend, hence the lack of posts.  Will try to be back tomorow with something crafty to share. :)

A Happy Bit of News!

I just found out that there is a BRAND NEW Winnie the Pooh movie coming out next summer. :) I just love Winnie the Pooh. He is so cute and cuddly and it is adorable how he totally misunderstands things. Of course the movie wouldn't be complete without Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Eeyore, and the rest of the gang. Here's the trailer for it....it just looks too cute! 

A Whirlwind of a Week

Wow, what a week! I feel like I have been just going non-stop with friends and work and other events going on in my life.  This weeks' events so far have been....

• A pizza party with some of my amazing girlfriends from Threefold...an evening spent encouraging one another, laughing, chatting, and speinding time together in Christ.
• Dinner with my dear, sweet friend Rosalie....2 blissful hours of just chatting and catching up on life. :)
• Creative time working on my scrapbook pages. I am taking this awesome class by Valerie Salmon called Got Sketch 106 and the sketches are blowing my socks off and fueling my creative spirit.
• Lunch with my parents and my grandma at one of our favorite Italian restaurants...just a relaxing time spent with family. This is one of the many blessings that have come from not having a full-time, all day teaching job.
• A Youth for Christ benefit dinner that my small group leader invited me to. Natalie Grant sang and the Ceraks (from the Taylor University crash identity mix-up) spoke and it was a time of complete uplifting and renewing of spirit. Also so great to be surrounded by lots of other Christians. :)
• Substituting 2 times this week - I am so thankful to be getting back into the classroom and although it is hard work, being in a different classroom each time is also very rewarding and fun too.
• A belated birthday lunch with my sister and 2 of my aunts...a great time just catching up and spending time together.

No crafty projects to post today but I will be back tomorrow to share some more scrapbooking goodness. :)

Fabric Frenzy

I love fabric. It comes in all sorts of lush colors, textures, and prints and it works on all sorts of different crafty projects. I love going to the fabric store and just seeing all the gorgeous prints that there are...it totally puts me into a creative mood.

My mom started learning how to quilt this week, and it inspired me to pull out my own small stash of fabric to create this fun layout.  I normally buy the fabric quarters from JoAnn Fabrics when they go on sale and these babies are perfect for scrapbooking!  The patterns are the perfect scale and you get just the right amount of fabric for a price that won't break the bank. :)

This is what I came up with....

I love this layout for so many reasons. It came together fairly quickly with the help of a PageMaps sketch. Using the colors in my photo, I chose the Sultry line from Basic Grey. I loved the bright pinks and greens paired with the rich dark brown color and it just made my photo pop.

I didn't really like the green patterned papers that were in the collection, so I turned to my fabric collection and found this green plaid piece that was perfect. I hemmed the edges of the fabric so that the piece measured 10 inches by 2.5 inches.  I then attached it to my layout with Glue Lines by Glue Dots.

I also had this awesome piece of pink fabric that coordinated with my layout, so I used my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die from Sizzix to diecut the flower shapes.  I then brushed a fabric stiffener over the tops of all the diecut flowers to stiffen them up. I used Stiffy by Plaid.  You could also apply the fabric stiffener before die-cutting which is what I will probably do next time.  After the fabric dries, you can even punch through it with your handheld punches...it works like butter!

Since the flowers were stiffened I could mold them to give them some dimension and I could even pop up the little flowers using foam squares to give them a bit more dimension.

I diecut the title out of felt using my Quickutz and added it to a chipboard label sticker from Basic Grey.

To add to this look I also added strips of ribbon, touches of metal with a Mickey clip, brads, and tiny staples from the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. 

A Birthday Sort of Day

Good morning blog readers! Today is a pretty special day around here....it's my birthday!  :)  Which in my books, makes it a fantabulous day no matter what is going on. 

Granted, it is also make and take weekend at Archivers, so I will be spending most of my day at work helping people make Chistmas cards but at least I get to play with scrappy products all day.  Then later on I will be sharing an extra special birthday dinner with my family which should be really great. :)

I also got my very first birthday card for this year, and guess what? I made it. My church sent me one of my  very own creations to wish me a happy birthday.  :) This is the card I recieved in the mail...

Does it look familiar...its because I posted it last month. He-he....my family and I really got a kick out of this one.

So in honor of my birthday, I thought I would share my birthday cards that I made for November. I was able to play with some really cool techniques on these and I absolutely LOVE how they turned out. :)

For this fabulous card, I was able to play with several techniques. I first diecut the label shape from one of the Tim Holtz Alterations dies. I then stamped the branch and cute little owl from Hero Arts onto the label with Memento ink. I also found this great sentiment from Scrappy Cat with little stars in the letters to add to the project. I then colored my card with Copic markers. It turned out really well and the coloring went pretty quicky considering that I colored 40 of these babies. :)  I then distressed the edges with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink and my ink blending tool.  Finally I stamped this woodgrain stamp from Hero Arts with Walnut Stain Distress ink and pop-dotted the label piece to the card. Definately a card that both guys and girls will love. :)

This next card uses one of my favorite ever Hero Arts stamps...Silhouette Grass. My coworkers think I am crazy for loving this stamp so much but I see *tons* of possibilities here. 

The inspiration for this card came from an SEI paper pack called Charlemagne. The copper and tan combo, highlighted with the turquoise and black accents really struck me as a beautiful autumn color combination and I thought it would translate beautifully into this card.

First I diecut my white cardstock with another one of my favorite Tim Holtz Alterations dies and then I stamped the Silhouette Grass stamp with Versamark and embossed it using copper embossing powder.  I then used Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink and my ink blending tool to color the edges of my image. I stamped one of my favorite birthday sayings from Hero Arts on turquoise cardstock and cut the ends to create the banner shape and pop-dotted this to my card. I still felt that it needed a bit more so I added 3 turquoise gemstones in a cluster to the front to finish my project.  It really was a fairly simple card design and I was able to create 40 of these in just one evening. :)

Well that's it for this post. Hope you enjoyed the cards and have a wonderful day everyone!

Until next time,

Janeen :)

Fall Beauty

A few weeks ago my friend Emily and I decided to head out to a nature preserve that is just minutes from my house to enjoy the beauty of fall and bask in the warm and bright weather.  This day was full of all my favorite things: a fabulous friend, photography, laughter, stories, and of course the beauty of nature.  :)

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day:

I will defnately be heading back to this beautiful piece of God's creation to revel in the beauty that is on this Earth. :)

Until next time,

Janeen

Back again!

Well, I missed posting on my blog yesterday because I went to bed super-early. I had a crazy long day and on top of that my allergies kicked in and I took a Benadryl.  I think I even shocked my family at how early I went to bed.

So anyways I will try to make it up to all of you. Today's post is also going to be pretty short because again it was a busy day and I have to work a ton this weekend so I am just going to share a fun new layout I created in my new sketch class, Got Sketch 106.  Now this class is super awesome and if you love sketches, you may want to check it out here.  It is taught by the super awesome and super talented Valerie Salmon.  She is a  regular contributor to Scrapbooks Etc. magazine and is also on the Scarlet Lime design team.  The class is 3 whole weeks chock full of sketches and inspiration. I have taken every single one of Val's sketch classes...the "whole enchilada" as we GotSketchers like to call it...and I have used them over and over and over again.  Love em!

These pictures are of the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  The sketch was perfect for my focal point picture of the tree and the detail shots of all the animals carved into the tree....it truly is a sight to behold if you ever get the chance.  I also used some older Bo Bunny papers on here and glimmer misted some white Thickers from American Crafts to get the fun effects.  Finally I created two "paper rosettes" using patterned paper, a hot glue gun, and a circle punch.  Super fun and easy to make, but you definately need to use the glue gun...trust me, it works way better than anything else. :)

I also have detail shots of this but they are on my other camera so I will pop on here tomorrow evening and upload them.

Well off to bed. Tomorrow starts our Holiday Extravaganza weekend at Archiver's and I will be manning one of the free make-and-take booths, helping people make a super cute Christmas card.  If you have an Archiver's near you it is worth a visit. And if you are by Glenbrook Mall, come visit me and make a free card. :)

Until tomorrow,

Janeen

Distress Ink Goodness

Hey there my fabulous blog readers. Here we are on day 2 of my 30 days of blog posts.  Today I want to share some links and goodness about my one of my absolute favorite scrapping/card making products - Distress Inks!!! :) 

Ahhh, inky goodness! And it comes in 36 yummy colors.

And my favorite tool to use with Distress Inks?  The Tim Holtz Ink Blending Tool.

Now, make sure you get the one with FOAM pads, not felt. This lil' baby is fabulous for adding a lighter blended layer of ink to your projects and it is a must have for Distress Inks.

I store my foam pads in little baggies and label each one with the name of the color of Distress ink that I used with it so that I can re-use them. :)

And these are a few of my favorite places to get information and video tutorials for Distress Inks. Check 'em out to learn all sorts of fabulous techniques with them.

http://www.jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/

 Jennifer does AMAZING things with inks and stamps. This is her blog and she often has videos using lots of products and techniqes. To find all her videos, simply go to the link at the top of her blog that says "how-to videos".

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&forum_id=52&thread_id=2839474

 A series of videos Jennifer did for 2Peas using lots of Ranger and Hero Arts. There are a ton of videos on all sorts of products but the Distress ink ones are my faves. :)

https://www.twopeasinabucket.com/events/7-october-stamping-month-at-two-peas/

A brand new, holiday verison of Thinking Inking with tons of fabulous techniques and ideas.

So give these fabulous inks a try and use them on your next crafty project.

Until next time,

Janeen :)

Starting Anew....

November....a time to be thankful for what I have and to start afresh.  And I am going to start with this blog. For too long, it has been neglected....as well as you, my blog readers. I am in the process of spiffing up the look of things around here thanks to an online class over at JessicaSprague.com.  So my goal for the month of November is a post a day. Some will be crafty in nature, some will share photography, some will have my musings about life and things I am thankful for, and some will just be plain fun. :)  So here's to my new adventures in blogging and sharing the bits and pieces of my life. :)

And since many of you are probably crafty ones, how about I share a layout? 

Yes, it is a Disney layout. I have started scrapping my Summer 2008 trip so I am sure that many of the projects on here in the next few months will be from the most magical place on Earth. This layout is super simple and fun and implements a sketch from one of the older Got Sketch classes. I picked up this Kermit embellie on clearance at Hobby Lobby about a year ago and I knew it would be perfect for tis layout. I paired it with some sweet patterned papers from the DCWV Doodle stack and some fun circle embellies and buttons and wa-la...a simple, fun layout that is perfect for these fun photos! :)

p.s. - All of my new Disney layouts have a "hidden mickey" on them. Can you find it on this layout?

Until tomorrow!

Janeen

World Cardmaking Day...a few days late!

Hello everyone! Just popping in to share a few of my creations from one of my favorite holidays....World Cardmaking Day. It happens every year on the first Saturday of October and this year I was able to make a few cards. :)

These cards are all variations of the anniversary card I made for my sister brother-in-law for their anniversary on Sunday. The stamps are all from Hero Arts. I die-cut the white pieces with a Quickutz nesting die colored the images with Copics. I then edged the diecut pieces with a silver leafing pen and then added some ribbon and pearls.

I also added a piece of white cardstock on to the inside of my cards so that I could write on it. I added a bit of stamping to jazz up the inside too. :)



A super sweet card I re-created from the Hero Arts blog. I used lots of Tim Holtz distress ink, perfect pearls, and a sweet cling stamp from Hero Arts to create my cards. I made them for some of my relatives who just lost a family member.

This is one of my card ministry cards. I stamped this fun flower from Hero Arts and then colored it with multiple colors of Tim Holtz Distress ink. I also colored the center with a brown Copic marker. I then added Distress Stickles. The label is made with a super cool label punch from EK Success and stamped. I then used some eyelets and jute to attach it to the page.

This is my other card design for my birthday card ministry. I created the background with a Hero Arts cling background stamp and white embossing powder. I then added lots of colors of distress inks and then sprayed it with a mixture of water and gold Perfect Pearls.I then distressed the edges. I diecut a maple leaf out of some BoBunny Gypsy paper and pop-dotted it up. I just totally love this card and I think it is my favorite one of the batch. :)

I have also been working on a few layouts this week and I will try to upload them later this week.

Until then,

Janeen :)

"Meet Me in the Stairwell" A 9/11 Tribute

A friend of mine just sent me this touching email and I wanted to take a minute to share it with all my friends.

September 11, 2001 - We will never forget!

You say you will never forget where you were when
you heard the news On September 11, 2001.
Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room
with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.' I
held his fingers steady as he dialed. I gave him the
peace to say, 'Honey, I am not going to make it, but it
is OK..I am ready to go.'

I was with his wife when he called as she fed
breakfast to their children. I held her up as she
tried to understand his words and as she realized
he wasn't coming home that night.

I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor when a
woman cried out to Me for help. 'I have been
knocking on the door of your heart for 50 years!' I said.
'Of course I will show you the way home - only
believe in Me now.'

I was at the base of the building with the Priest
ministering to the injured and devastated souls.
I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven. He
heard my voice and answered.

I was on all four of those planes, in every seat,
with every prayer. I was with the crew as they
were overtaken. I was in the very hearts of the
believers there, comforting and assuring them that their
faith has saved them.
I was in Texas , Virginia , California , Michigan , Afghanistan .
I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.
Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face. I knew
every name - though not all knew Me. Some met Me
for the first time on the 86th floor.

Some sought Me with their last breath.
Some couldn't hear Me calling to them through the
smoke and flames; 'Come to Me... this way... take
my hand.' Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.

I did not place you in the Tower that day. You
may not know why, but I do. However, if you were
there in that explosive moment in time, would you have
reached for Me?

Sept. 11, 2001, was not the end of the journey
for you. But someday your journey will end. And I
will be there for you as well. Seek Me now while I may
be found. Then, at any moment, you know you are
'ready to go.'

I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.

God