Capriciousfancy, Friends With Flair, and Basically, a Whole Lot of Fun Stuff...just say'n.

I don't know about you, but my week seems to have gone by rather quickly! That's not always the case for me, so I'm gonna smile about it, K? K. Thanks. Oh! Feel free to smile with me. Smiling is a good thing. Mostly. AAAANYWAY.....it's always good when my tangents start this early on! HA!!! I have a couple of really fun things to share with you today!

For starters, I wrote a guest post and am featured today over at Bliss Habits! We are talking WHIMSY! If you haven't visited Bliss Habits before, you are going to LOVE this blog! So fun and so real! Did you know that the actual definition of Whimsy uses the word 'capriciousfancy'?! For reals, you guys. Is that not the COOLEST? Well, anyway, you should head on over and read my post...and check out the doll I created in celebration of whimsy!

Now, as for here on Just Jingle today, it is Friends With Flair Friday over at Unity!

I created a super fun card to join in the fun today!



*LOVE!* I used papers from Samantha Walker's Blossom Collection for Creative Imaginations. The sticker is also from the Blossom collection. And ya wanna know someth'n totally cool about this collection? It has matching fabric. Yup. Totally. I know. Here...I'll give you a moment to absorb the sheer awesomeness.

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K. Good? Good. 'Cause now I'm gonna tell you the other awesome stuff I used! The stamps are the absolutely freak'n adorable 'Sweet Life' kit by Samantha Walker for Unity Stamp Co.!!! Love these! And, can you see that sparkle and shimmer? Can ya? Can ya? WELLLL......



Well, now you can TOTALLY see the shimmer and sparkle! How do you get that, my friends? You are in LUCK today, because I'm gonna tell ya! It's the ever fabulous Twinkling H2O's from Luminarte by Creative Imaginations!

Yup. Totally fabulous. It's Friday, folks, and as you *may* have noticed, I'm in a REMARKABLY good mood. I hope you have a super fantabulous Friday!!!! Leave me a comment to let me know you were here! OH! And if you are new, welcome and please considering following my blog! I like cool people who follow my blog! Just say'n.

Jingle Out.

HAHAHA!!!! STILL...after all this time....that still cracks me up. I love it. Just say'n. HA!HA!HA!HA!

Tips, Tricks, and Techniques with weird names. Just say'n.

That's what I have for you today! It's Tips and Tricks Thursday over at Skipping Stones Design and I am the lucky Stamp Tramp who gets to share with you this time around! I pulled out a super fun technique from back in the day! I actually learned this one from my Close To My Heart upline back when I was a consultant! Susan was the MASTER of Retiform and could do beautiful things with it! And now, I am excited to share it with you today because I know you can do ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS things using this great technique!



This is my completed card! Isn't it such a pretty technique? I used the Heartsong set from Skipping Stones! For the full tutorial you will want to hop on over to Skipping Stones sometime today to check it out! I really would love to see some peeps try it out, because each person makes this fun technique their own and the results are super fun! As for the name...Retiform...I have no idea where that came from, but that's what I learned it as, so I'm stick'n to it. Just say'n.



Anyway...I do hope you will check it out! And try it! Happy Thursday!!!

The Sam Adams Brewery Tour in Pictures {Wordless Wednesday}

P.S. This was a BLAST! Never overlook your local touristy things...sometimes they are sorta wicked crazy fun even if they are super close! Just say'n!



















Yup. Super tons of crazy fun. And that was AFTER a super fun Segway Tour over at the MOS! *sigh* Good times, my friends, good times. Just say'n.

Jingle Out!

Work! That's What is on my Workspace this Wednesday!

Yup. I look at today's version of my usual mess and see the stuff I need to get working on! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my assignments, I just wish this darned working full time thing didn't get in the way all the time! HA! You can see those SUPER CUTE Creative Imaginations papers just WAITING for me to play with them and, do you see that fabulous orange and cream ribbon collection? Yup. Totally have two projects in mind for that and I am SO excited about them!!! And, the piles of stamps...can you hear them? They are CRYING OUT for ink! HA! I will likely have time to work a bit tonight and maybe tomorrow and then the weekend is coming and that's when I REALLY get to play!!!

For more great workspace posts check out Julia's blog, The Stamping Ground!

A Study in White on White with just a touch of Black

White. On. White.

I love it. It pops and just stands strong despite the lack of tonal variety. And when I saw today's Skipping Stones Design sketch, it was the perfect match for this monochromatic scheme!

Yes, my dear friends, it is that time again! Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday! What does that mean, exactly? Well, for starters, it means that you get to see some FABULOUS cards created by the Stamp Tramps! Secondly, it means that if you create a card using the sketch and link it up over at SSD, you have a chance to win some stampy goodness!!!! And C., it means that you get to see the awesomeness that other peeps create and be even MORE inspired!!!!



For my card today I chose the Sentiment Frames set. I used a basic flat, white cardstock and inked the edges with Momento ink. The butterflies are punched with a Martha punch.



SO...now you should go see what the other girls have created and get SUPER inspired and then MAKE SOMETHING!!! just say'n.

OH...and in the event that you like shopping and you like stamps and you like sales and discounts and such...it just so happens that Skipping Stones was recently featured over at the Moxie Fab World! To celebrate this feature, SSD is offering 20% off all stamps! Simply enter the code Mox20 at checkout!

Stamp Tramps:

Amy
Ann
Barb
Brenda
Gladys
Jingle (That's me!)
Kandi
Tammie
Wendy

And Our Guests for April:
Laurie (our sketch artist for the month!)
Diana
Mona
These girls have ROCKED the stamps and sketches this month, so be sure to stop by their blogs and give 'em some love!

Have a Happy Tuesday!!!

Hi and stuff.

Ummm...so yeah. Had a TOTALLY awesome week last week just hanging out with The Hubbums and doing touristy things right here in our very own area! We had a BLAST! We visited the Mark Twain House, we did a Segway tour of Boston from the MOS, we toured the Sam Adams Brewery, we visited the Springfield Museums, we saw the Nashoba Valley Winery....basically, we had super tons of fun! And then we finished out the week hang'n with the fam for Easter! It was FABULOUS!!!

But, alas, we are back to the usual routine and Monday it is! HA! I created a fun little card to start out the week!



This FABULOUS typewriter image is one of the new Steampunk stamps from Scrolls Work!

I absolutely LOVE this entire plate, but this is one of my favorites! I just mounted most of them yesterday, so you should see more fun stuff popping up soon!



Just a bit of ribbon and some fabulous Maya Road rubons and a quick and simple look! I was inspired to design the off-center look by the Less Is More Off-Center challenge. Have you checked out this challenge site? It's time to embrace, my friends. Just say'n. HA!

Well, I hope you have a super fantastic Monday! See you peeps later!

*Note: I understand the challenge site prefers to not have word verification, however, I cannot turn this off for a single post and due to the volume of traffic on my blog I get some pretty gross spam if I don't have it. Please understand the 2 seconds you spend verifying saves me at least an hour of sorting through spam and allows my readers to not be forced to see disgusting comments. Thanks for understanding!

Happy Easter to One and All!

Hee-hee! It was too cute not to put up! Just say'n!

Jingle Out!

Spring Fairy Wand

I had such a fun time participating in this Spring Fairy Wand swap hosted by Wendy over at Bliss Angels! We each created a wand for our parter and sent them on their way to celebrate the coming of spring. Now, if spring would just hurry itself right along and get here with the wands, that would be great! HA! I received my wand from my partner, Blanche, the other day, however, I haven't had a chance to photograph it yet. It is super fun and full of whimsy! I do have photos of the want I sent her way, however!



I wrapped the handle with decorative fabric tape and created the medallion portion from handmade papers. Two fabulous Scrolls Work stamps make up the fairy wings and the sweet girls. They are watercolored with Twinkling H20's by Luminarte for Creative Imaginations - you know how I love sparkle!!! A bit of Stickles on the fringed edges was the perfect way to finish it off!



Just a fun little swap!

I also wanted to let you know that The Hubbums and I began a stay-cation of sorts yesterday, so I am not on the computer much this week/weekend, because we are out having too much fun! YAY US!!!! Yesterday we visited the Mark Twain House down in Connecticut and today we plan to do a SUPER fun tour on SEGWAYS through the MOS in Boston, and we are also thinking about heading over to the Sam Adams brewery for their tour! FUN STUFF! It's amazing how much you never do in your own city because you live here. We are having fun!!!!!! Have a fabulous day!

Miss Maggie Enjoying the Weather! {Wordless Wednesday}

For more Wordless Wednesday posts check out here, here and here!

She loves spending quality time basking in the sun! And on the few nice days we have had recently, she has been soaking it all in!!!

The Hills Are Alive.... {SSD #73}

So...have you ever looked at a sketch, sat down to make your card, looked back up at the sketch and realized you totally changed the orientation indicated in the sketch? Ooopsies!!!! However, if nothing else, it does prove that sketches are so amazingly versatile and we can totally make them our own! Right? Right. Thaaaaat's what I'm tell'n myself, anyway. Just Say'n. HA!!!




Oh...and show tunes. How about them show tunes? Love 'em? Hate 'em? If you hate 'em you might not wanna hang out with me because I have been known to randomly burst into song. And I kinda can't really sing at all. But, REALLY, why can't my life just be a musical? I am pretty sure it CAN be, I just need to make it happen! That's all. Just say'n.




I pulled out two fabulous Skipping Stones Design sets for this card! Heartsong and Timeless Textures. The amazing sketch is by Laurie Schmidlin. It's a fun one!




AND...the stamp tramps have all created fabulous cards to inspire you, so you simply must check them all out! Also, don't forget to create a card based on this week's sketch and link it up over at Skipping Stones Design Blog for a chance to win a great prize!!!

Here is the sketch:

Happy TUESDAY!!!

I LOVE JELLY BEANS!!!!!!!

Yes. I was yelling that at the top of my lungs. Just say'n. But, the thing of it is, I really really really really really DO love Jelly Beans! I love them. For reals. They are tiny little chewy pieces of happy. AND...they are so pretty! In all of their fabulous colors and flavors! *sigh* It's a good thing I have some, otherwise this post would be down right torturous! HA!



Yup. I totally had a reason for getting excited about jelly beans! I made a Jelly Bean Easter card with a SUPER fun House Mouse stamp and some fabulous papers from the Samantha Walker Cottontail collection combined with some Creative Imaginations awesomeness!



I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits. YUMMINESS!!!!!



A bit of ric rac and seam binding brighten up the top. LOVING orange all of the sudden. I've never been much of an orange kinda girl, but lately, I have seriously been loving it. I am going to need to buy more orange supplies because that is one section in my stash that is seriously lacking. Gonna have to work on that!



The bottom border is punched with a border punch (thank you, Martha Stewart) and then I added a few orange gem stones for some sparkle. Because sparkle makes me happy. Just say'n.

I am entering this fun card in the House-Mouse & Friends Easter card challenge! I'm also entering in the On The Spot Challenge over at My Time To Craft!

Now...after you leave a comment, I give you full permission to go buy a bag of jelly beans. Target carries the Starburst ones that come in a bag of all reds. Yup. Strawberry, Cherry, and Watermelon. All red. All one bag. Pure and utter joy. Buy them. Eat them. Smile because life is happier with jelly beans in it. Just say'n.

Happy Monday, folks!

I'm a May Arts Finalist!!!!

I am so excited to be sharing a super fun tutorial with you today. This is the very tutorial that I submitted as part of the May Arts Design Team call and I was chosen as a FINALIST!!! I have created a Garden Goddess doll draped in beautiful May Arts ribbon! She is here to celebrate spring and offer her protective hand over the petals that surround her.


To create your doll you will need the following:
A piece of scrap wood (I used an old railing cut down to 9 inches)
Foil
Lag Bolt
Creative Paper Clay
Acrylic Paints
Crackle Medium
Clear Coat (gloss)
Super Strong Tape Adhesive
Black Beads
May Arts 1.5in. Sheer Woven Rosettes - White
May Arts 1.5in. Satin Pleats – Grey
May Arts 5/8in. Satin Pleats - Red
May Arts 1.5in. Satin/Scalloped Edge – Black
May Arts 1 in. Faux Leaves – Gold

Instructions:
To begin drill a hole in the end of your piece of wood and insert lag bolt. (If you devise a different armature form, that is fine, this is just what I used for this particular doll. Be creative and feel free to use what you have on hand!) Cover the top of the bolt with a ball of foil to form the structure for the head.


Cover the foil with paper clay and sculpt the head around it adding the petals and the neck as you go.


Creatively sculpt the facial features using water to keep your clay wet and easy to move while you work. Push the beads into place for the eyes.


Cover the entire head with a base color and then cover with crackle glaze. Allow to dry completely. Add your skin tone and any colors you would like to show the crackly over the crackle glaze. Allow to dry. Add additional painted details, distressing where desired by wiping paint gently with a soft cloth. This is your chance to show yourself in your piece, so take her face wherever you wish to go! Have fun with it! Apply the clear coat. Allow to dry completely before moving forward.


Now we will begin to dress her with fabulous ribbon! Using a very strong tape adhesive create the base of her gown by wrapping the black ribbon around her entire base.



Cut several lengths of the black and the grey ribbon. Fold these over to create ‘loops’ and attach one at a time, alternating colors. You will do this in tiers about halfway up the doll.


Once you have reached the desired height for the ‘skirt’ portion of her gown use the strong tape to adhere the sheer rosette ribbon around her waste. Add the red pleated ribbon above and below to give it a finished look.


Attach gold leaves to the torso on the front and back to create the top of the gown. Cut two lengths of two leaves each for the arms and attach to the sides.


Add any finishing touches, such as gems or charms for jewelry and stand back to admire your beautiful doll!!!


I hope you take the challenge to create a doll on your own and I’d love to see it so feel free to stop by again to show me what you have created!!! Have a fabulously creative weekend!!!!