Jennifer Grace Frosty Festivities: Blog Hop Inspiration

It is so much fun being inspired by older supplies again.  I had been bummed that I have not been able to get the Christmas Paper I had been eyeing, but the paper I already own is finding some new life this weekend.

If you have not done Jennifer's blog hop, you should head over THERE.  So many great things to see and ideas to note!  Jennifer's layout for the hop is fantastic (as to be expected).  I was especially intrigued with her shaker pouch at the top of the page.  I decided to give it a try (on a smaller scale) and squeeze in the other suggestions she had, too.

Be Inspired:

Make a shaker pouch of falling ‘snowflakes’

Use a piece of ephemera or a chipboard element as part of a page title

Add two lines along the bottom of a page or card for a defined border

My cute little jar has some snowflakes and golden stars in it.  It took me a few tries to get it the way I wanted, but I really love it!  I love the non traditional colors on this layout, too.  Inspired by Isabel's pink coat, of course.

I hope you are having fun.  The fact that it gets dark earlier now tricks my brain into thinking I'm tired much earlier.  I'm not sure how much longer I will be up tonight, but will be having more fun tomorrow after church.

A Challenge: To Be Inspired Project!

I have been doing Project Life lately.  My time is limited, so I need quick, small things to work on in between work and family.  Those small cards are the perfect canvas for me to do a little something and if I get interrupted, it is not a big deal or frustration.  It is working well so far.

Today I am anticipating interruptions, so I am sticking with small projects to get started.  Hopefully I can work my way up to a layout or two later.

Jennifer issued a great challenge:

Be Inspired:

- Use something with a rough texture near smooth or shiny items

- Add a row of snowy dots along a border

- Use pop-dots for letter stickers for a card recipient’s name, or a page title

She even has a fun prize you can win if you enter!  Now, I am not planning on doing EACH suggestion for each of her posts, but this group of inspiration prompts were too good to pass up!

At Christmas, I normally do pre-purchased tags or stamp some very simple ones to go with the wrapping paper for that year (and yes, I do make a big deal about finding the perfect paper!).  I don't generally spend a lot of time on tags as I don't think most of our recipients would actually appreciate them.  I decided to go ahead and make a tag for Meg (my step mom).  She loves to wrap and pays a lot of attention to detail, so I know she will notice and appreciate the tag.

My Grinchy self had to go ahead and break into my wood vaneer sheets.  I hoard them, but they were so perfect for this project.  They cut beautiful on my Cricut, too!

I used my new Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges for the tag, green background and start burst (it even has a matching stamp!).  Don't you love the fox?  I have been eager to use him!  Dollar Spot at Michaels, baby!  The glitter tree is left over from maybe two years ago and I am glad I kept them!  Getting some use out of them today.  The white dots were made by me to mimic those cute enamel dots that are popular, but have not made it to Lafayette at this point.  They are just some plastic beads popped in the oven and melted down.  Nice.

Two projects down and I love them both!

Frosty Festivities: Welcome Inspiration

My first completed project!  It feels good to be digging through so much fun, loved stuff!

The first set of inspiration for today is this:

Be Inspired:

Add an embellishment that goes over the edge of your project

Mix three different paper collections

Include something with a reflective shine

I decided to go for a card, but needed to be a bit creative about the "add an embellishment that goes over the edge of your project" part.

I picked some paper from Cosmo Cricket's Dear Mr. Claus (mini deck)) for the background and tags.  To ground everything, I used a piece of Kraft Funday (black stripes).  This would give me a foundation to help my embellishments go over the edge of.

Isn't the deer cute?  I have a small pack of plain chipboard deer and snowmen.  A Studio Calico mask and a bit of aqua mist and he is ready to go, don't you think?

I am in love with sequins right now...they add such a fun touch and a bit of reflective shine.

Have you jumped into Jennifer's Blog Event for this weekend?  I wish you would.  It will be lonely doing it all by myself!

Jennifer Grace Creates: Frosty Festivities!

I met Jennifer when she applied for a position on my Design Team (Counterfeit Kit Challenge).  She is sweet, dedicated and OH, SO TALENTED!  I am sad that she is no longer on my team, but happy to count her among my friends.

Jennifer does some amazing Blog Events throughout the year.  She works so hard to put together a wonderful theme full of inspiration, prizes and challenges.  I always leave feeling sad it is over and full of ideas for the coming months.

Right now Jen has a wonderful blog event going on this weekend!



There is still plenty of time to play along!  I am FULL of ideas from her posts already!  I am one happy girl right now!

I am a bit OCD (totally not joking here...really), so I have been typing a list of all of her prompts/challenges, so I can check them off as I go.  I also have pulled EVERYTHING I can think of that would be great for holiday projects.  And I do mean EVERYTHING.  Even non-holiday stuff that feels inspiring to me.  I love it when that happens!

I have so many embellishments, stamps, stickers, sequins, twine, punches, papers, wood vaneers, enamal dots, washi tape...OH, MY!  Think I am finally ready?

I'm off to create!  A whole day!  Mostly to myself!  Kids are fed...Hubby is "on duty" to field requests...dinner is made and ready to heat up.  Oh, happy day!  I'll be back with projects as I finish them.