A Gift for Anna - 3 in 1!

First, I made an envelope from an old calendar - two cute kittens playing :)

The front of the card.  The cardstock is leftover from my wedding invitations, the corner punch from my MIL, the letter stickers from a scrapbooking kit I purchased when I went to Alaska on a cruise, and the flower picture is actually from a promotional flyer that I thought was really pretty!

The first fold of the card.  More of the promotional flyer, decorated with stars, circles, and flowers fastened with brads.  I kind of went brad crazy on this card - 15 of them!  The decorations are mine, the brads from a friend.  The quote is from a friendship calendar I received from a friend a few years back.

Aww :)  More cruise ship stickers, decorations and my friend's brads.

The last fold of the card has a flower from the friendship calendar I got the quote from, and room for a personal message.

I didn't want to waste any of the pretty promotional card so I used the remainder on the back. 

And here is her gift!  The pattern is "Bernard the Fox"  except she wanted it black (I'm pretty sure!), so black it was.

I definitely have some learning to do with my amigurumi.  Apparently I'm not making the stitches tight enough and that is why the stuffing shows through.  At least this one just makes him look like he has spots!  The really cool thing about the legs is that they have pipe cleaner inside of them and they are bendable, so you can make different poses!  Neat :)

Bernard taking a nap - *yawn*  Wish I could join him!!  Happy Wednesday everyone... <3 JEM

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone who voted and gave feedback on the sample business cards!  I have decided to take the majority vote - which is Number 3!

And now for the random winner - - - Katia W!!  Congrats, Kat!  You will receive a custom greeting card made by moi...

Have a great day :)  JEM

Vote for Your Favorite Business Card!!

Hello everyone!  Hope you're all enjoying your Saturday!  I've decided that I should include a business card with the products I make for people.. You know, garner more business?  Yes, garner.  Look it up :)  Anyway, I would love it if you would place a vote for your favorite design!  This is #1.

Business card #2.  If there is something you like about a certain design as well, but think it needs some improvement, please let me know.  I'm always open for suggestions!

Business card #3.  To hopefully stimulate audience participation, I've decided to make this into a bit of a contest!  If you leave a comment, a winner will be chosen at random at the end of Sunday, October 23rd.  You will receive a handmade card by me!  Hopefully that is something desirable ;)  Have a great weekend!

Braided Forest

This cowl took me a couple months to make.  It's 4 separate braids that are tacked together at regular intervals, and then joined at the back for a seam.  I got the yarn on Granville Island in Vancouver, BC.  Each little fold of braid took me 1/2 hour, and there is about 50 of them, so that was quite a lot of time!

If I did this project again, I would probably do fewer braids to make it a little more snug around my neck, and use only one color, but it's still pretty nice.

Here's a closeup for you to enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving!! <3 JEM

Anniversary Card 2011

Probably one of my most creative cards to date.  Hubby gets the credit for the poem (well, I made it gerbers cuz I don't have any violets to attach!).  The main body of the card is actually a recycled grad photo display from my mom!  The white paper and flower are from a friend's stash, and all other paper is recycled from a friend's wedding invite.  The letter stamps are mine, and the flower stamp and metal accent are my MIL's.

Hehehe!  I slid in white paper where the picture usually goes.  I'm feeling pretty creative at this point!  I even put wedding rings on the frogs...  The letter stamps once again are mine, and the frogs and grommets are from the MIL.

The grommets come through the back of the card, but I don't feel like covering them up.  The card is pretty thick, so they didn't really flatten out like normal, but I think they will stay in.  Enjoy!  <3 Jem

Cassandra's Birthday Card

September 28th is my friend Cassandra's birthday!  I had a friendship calendar from a friend and I thought the quote for today was perfect for what I was feeling.  It's been a while since Cassandra and I have spent time together and I hope that will change soon!  For her card, the white cardstock is from my friend Beth, the calendar page is from Lisa, the brown paper is from my mom, and the edger punch is mine.

I love the feel of this card - kind of earthy and pretty!  The white cardstock and brads are from Beth, the brown paper from my mom, the sparkly cream paper is recycled from a friend's wedding invitation, and the stamp and edger punch are mine.  The ink is from my mom.

Does anybody have ideas for covering up brads on the back of cards?  I'm not a huge fan of the bulge covering with paper creates...  <3 JEM

Wedding Card for Beth's Brother

I'm so excited - Beth commissioned me to make this card for her brother's wedding this weekend!  My first wedding card - and it was a lot of fun!  The white cardstock is from Beth, the blue layer is leftover from a scrapbook I made when I went to Alaska with my family to celebrate my Mom completing chemo, and the picture is from a Precious Moments calendar from my Mom (the year?  1980!)!  I used my edger punch to fancy up the border.

The plaid paper is from the outside of the calendar picture, the flower is mine, the brad from Beth, and the stamp is one from a set my husband and I bought to stamp on decorations we had at our wedding this past March.  The ink is from my Mom.

I personally think it's sooo cute and I would make more but alas, it is one-of-a-kind!  If anyone else would like an original work of art, don't hesitate to ask!  Happy Wedding!  JEM