.the birthday boy.

Jessica Griffin — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:01:27 +0000

Today we’re celebrating my little guy’s 5th birthday!

Here are five things I love about Parker:

I love his hugs and kisses!
I love when he winks at me, it’s so cute!
I love that he is all boy; Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, cars, trucks, Legos etc.
I love how polite and considerate he is.
I love his imagination!

Happy birthday Parker!

.two minute card.

Jessica Griffin — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:01:28 +0000

Have you seen Earth Art International’s newest Animal Spirit Stamp, it’s a Peacock! I created a quick and simple card using as few products as possible. Here’s what I did…

Products used:

Earth Art International Peacock
Papertrey Ink sentiment Gladiolus
VersaFine in Onyx Black
Lindy’s Stamp Gang: Pineapple Paradise | Bachelor Button Blue | Bells of Ireland
Paintbrush | Watercolor paper

How to use Dreamweaver’s Embossing Paste on Glass

Jessica Griffin — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:19 +0000

Today over at Dreamweaver’s the challenge is “tiny treats.” I love glass jars. This one in particular I love because it’s smaller in size, and perfect for my paintbrushes. However, this jar has a new use with Memorial Day coming up, it’ll be a votive holder.

Products used:

Lindy’s Stamp Gang’s Birthday Blog Hop

Jessica Griffin — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:00:28 +0000

Welcome to the Lindy’s Stamp Gang blog hop! If you’ve arrived from the LSG blog, you’re in the right place, if this is your first stop, you’ll want to go back to the beginning to get all the details! The beginning is the Lindy’s Stamp Gang Blog.

We are celebrating Lindy’s birthday this week! In honor of Lindy’s birthday, we’re having a birthday themed blog hop. All the designers have created something with a birthday theme. Of course no birthday is complete with out a birthday card!

Products used:

Magic Moon Pearls Embossing Powder
Sunset Pink Glitz Spritz
Frozen Jack Frost Starburst Spray

Copic Markers; RV66, V25, YR65 and 0 (the colorless blender). The floral stamps are from a variety of Unity Stamp Co’s kit of the month, and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The butterfly is from Martha Stewart.

Kate, who is on the LSG design team shared a video tutorial featuring this technique. It’s amazing! Kate’s video can be found on her YouTube channel.

Yvonne is your next step on the blog hop!

Art Journaling page

Jessica Griffin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:07 +0000

I decided to try something a little different this week. I found a quote that I love and wanted to incorporate it into an Art Journaling page. There’s step by step photos of how the stencil embossing came together…

Dreamweaver Stencils products used:

(Please excuse the cell phone quality photographs below.)

Other materials used: Lindy’s Stamp Gang sprays, Papertrey Ink stamps, chipboard piece from Clear Scraps, tissue tape from Tim Holtz. NeoColor Crayons. Smooch Accent Ink.

This is a great example of how something can start one way and transform into something completely different. I love the quote and I really wanted that to be the focus. I also wanted to see the beautiful pearlescent ‘rain’ at the top with bright beautiful colors… and then see the bottom part, with translucent paste and dark colors to represent the quote. What do you think? Did you “feel” what I felt when you looked at the page?

.multimedia birthday card.

Jessica Griffin — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:53:03 +0000

My sister’s birthday is April 5th, and I always make her a birthday card. My sisters and I all have matching star tattoos, so I always try to incorporate a star in one way or another. This year I took the whole star thing to a different level!

Dreamweaver Stencils products:
Damask | Translucent Embossing Paste | Metallic F/X in Pixie Blush

Lindy’s Stamp Gang:
Desert Moon Turquoise Embossing Powder | T-Bird Turquoise Spray | Salt Water Taffy Spray

Other products used include:
Papertrey Ink: 2012 Birthday Tags.
Tsukineko: Versa Fine in Onyx Black and Versa Mark.
Glue Dots: 1″ Super Strength and Pop Up.
Spellbinders: Nestabilities Labels 3 and Circles.
Copic: Multiliner .05 black.
Sakura: Gelly Roll Stardust Clear

.see my sister’s 2012 & 2010 birthday cards.

To view a video tutorial on how to make this card, CLICK HERE.

.Love Never Fails.

Jessica Griffin — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 06:20:14 +0000

I’m an app junkie! I download all these awesome apps when I hear about them, and then totally forget I’ve downloaded it! Oops! Anyways, my kids have this app called Drawing and my girls were having fun drawing together on separate iPads and then surprising one another with what they’ve drawn.

There’s this app. It’s called Paper 53…

It’s a great app, super simple, not a whole lot of options, but it has a calligraphy pen, which I love. And, the app works. It’s smooth, and it delivers amazing results. Every time.

Today my good friend Nancie posted about Paper 53 and how she makes brushes using the app! I was like “What! No way!” Of course I had to try it! In her tutorial she shows you how to do it in Illustrator, but don’t worry, if you don’t have Illustrator, it’s super simple!

(click above to download)

First, import your image into Photoshop.
Second, use the magic eraser tool to remove the background.
Third, go to “edit” and select “define brush preset.”
Fourth, name your brush, and look for it in your brushes palette.
Fifth, and optional, save your file as a .png and share it with your readers as a free download!

It is seriously that simple! I should apologize in advance. I’m going to be making brushes like a crazy person! But, they’ll all be available here, for free! If you create something with it, PLEASE give credit where credit is due- as I have, crediting Nancie for the amazing tutorial! And, share with me what you create! I’d love to see it!

Because no post is complete with out some fun photos! Here are a few of my dog, and our new hamsters, Belle and Ariel. (Notice I said my dog, but our hamsters?) Hmmm…

*no animals were harmed in the taking of these photographs*

Hope everyone has a safe and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Pinspiration Mini Album

Jessica Griffin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:24:06 +0000

I am WAY excited for this little album! Everyone loves Pinterest, and everyone seems to be inspired by it. I thought I would put my favorite ‘pins’ in an album, something I can have on my desk, right at my finger tips. Here’s a before and after…

I started by covering the word “LOVE” and the base, with washi tape. I did that because I wanted to paint them both. I mixed some Yes Paste with Mica Powders from Lindy’s Stamp Gang. I used a plastic card to paint the paste onto the base and I set it aside to dry for 24 hours. After the word was wrapped, I took Delphinium Turquoise and dripped it onto the word. I started at the top, and dropped some along the edges of each letter. I didn’t want to make a mess, but, I did want some areas to be darker, dripping the color on, instead of spraying it on, allowed me more control.

Once the cover and the base were done, I went to work on the tabs. I have these really awesome stamps from KI Memories called Verbology. They are no longer available in store, but, I’ve managed to find some on Ebay. I have several different sets of those stamps, and they were perfect for the tabs. I picked five different categories that I was most likely to use; Color, Design, Sew, Give and Party. I’ve stamped the words onto acrylic with Staz-On.

Printing the images was a little tedious, but, I was committed! I took a screen shot with my cell phone, then I loaded the photos into Diptic and created a collage consisting of four images. From the app, I emailed the collage to myself, then opened them up in Photoshop. I arranged enough photos onto one 8.5″X11″ page so that it was covered. There were approximately 30 photos on each printed page. I used Yes Paste to adhere the photos to the chipboard, I also used it as a sealant after I was finished applying photos.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Pinspiration Album! Please feel free to pin anything that has inpired you, and if you create your own Pinspiration Album, I’d love to see it!

Make your own Washi Tape: video tutorial.

Jessica Griffin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:15:04 +0000

I’m so excited to share a video tutorial, showing you how to create your own washi tape!

Here’s what you’ll need…

The Crafter’s Workshop stencils

Scotch Masking Tape, Gesso and a paintbrush

heat gun, good background stamps

Versa Mark and Staz-On

Magicals, Sprays, and Embossing Powder.

Lets make a card!

Step 1: use a Glue Dots Dispenser to adhere the tape to the paper.

Step 2: once the tape is down, die cut the front of the card, using a die.

Step 3: using Staz-On, stamp image onto a clear piece of plastic.

Step 4: adhere plastic to the inside of the card using Glue Dots Dispenser.

Step 5: stamp sentiment inside card.

Here’s a better view of the embossed part, as well as the star stamped on plastic Remember the embossing was done over a stencil- you can see how crisp and clear the images are in the photo below, as well as the second color in the two-toned embossing powder.

Valentine’s Day Decor!

Jessica Griffin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:47:43 +0000

We had a party on Valentine’s Day for my kids and 30 of their closest friends, who knew we knew so many people! I wanted to make some cute stuff, and decorate in a child friendly kind of way. Of course I turned to Pinterest! The first thing I found was this adorable “kissing booth”. Though, with young kids, I didn’t want to make a kissing booth, so we turned it into a kisses booth, where kids could get Hershey Kisses! You can see my Valentine’s Day pinterest board HERE.

I also whipped up some felt shaped hearts and blogged about it over at Lindy’s Stamp Gang. You can see more about the hearts HERE.

I hope you had a fantastic Valentine’s Day!