Thankful for Someone Special

We are very excited to announce that Christy Strickler is joining our Kit Club Design Team!  Here are a couple pages she's made with our November Kits and you can look forward to a peek at her work with the December Kits tonight at midnight in the Design Team Gallery!  Welcome Christy!

Documenting gratitude isn't just for the month of November. It can be a year round habit. The easiest way to practice is quite simple. Just look through your photos and watch for the moments, both big and little that really catch your heart.

As I looked through the photos of my family, I was quite taken by several little moments that I had captured in which my husband was interacting with our son. I am so very grateful that he spends so much time with our son. I love to see the joy apparent in their faces while they are at play. Each of these small moments bring me so much happiness.
 

The bold, bright colors and playful pattern were perfect for these photos of my husband swinging my son in a blanket.I layered the washi tape over small strips of white cardstock. This enabled me to punch the hearts out with a standard hole punch. The die cut originally said "Love of my Life". I used a white gel pen to trace over the letters and to add a letter "s" to the end of the word love. 

These photos were taken in the Spring. My husband and son are playing on a Squirrel themed video game. Playing on the theme of the game, I was able to create a layout featuring tickets and a bingo card. They are indeed collecting tickets like a squirrel collects nuts. I am grateful for this day spent together as a family. I love the expression on my husband's face as he looks down at my son.

You can find gratitude all year long. It's simply a matter of taking a moment to find little things that fill your heart with joy. We'd love to see your gratitude layouts over in the JBS Mercantile gallery! Take a look through your photos, find a few pictures from a different season and see how you can stretch your Autumn themed supplies to document your gratitude.

Christy

Guest Designer Staci Taylor

We'd love to share one more glimpse of our November guest, Staci Taylor, and our fabulous fall kits:

 

Hey everyone, my name is Staci Taylor, and I'm so excited and honored to be guesting for JBS this month! I am a scrappy mama of three little(ish) kiddos who works part-time as a School Psychologist, and I also like to take photos, craft, bake and run (ok, I don't really *like* to run, but I do like some time to myself to listen to my music uninterrupted ;). I have been happily playing with photos and paper since I was pregnant with my first child 9 years ago, and now that my kids are getting older, i'm enjoying being able to carve more scrappy"me" time out for myself. Playing with the JBS kits this month has been an absolute blast!

My favorite layout that I made with the kits is "Hello fall". I always enjoy beautiful papers that I can cut into to use as embellishments on my layouts, and the kit had so many fun details that I could use to support my fall theme, my favorite being those awesome JBS exclusive wood leaves. Not to mention, I think my photo subject is pretty darn cute! :)

My favorite part of my studio is this shelf holding a few things that I love: a retro camera mold, two framed quotes that inspire me, and a "live love laugh" sign that is a happy reminder to me of a philosophy I try to live by.

 

Lastly, my favorite photo right now is not the best quality (cell phone shot!), but I can't help but crack up every time I look at it. My three kids were running around the other night, singing and dancing in crazy hats and accessories before bedtime, putting on quite the show. Their ability to be goofballs always makes me smile!

 

And here's one more bonus project from Staci, a charming thankful banner.

Thanks for the inspiration Staci!



Thankful for the friendships...

That I have made with this wonderful craft.

Hello Hello :)

So have you been having awesome creative fun with the Jenni Bowlin Studio November Kits? I have :)  Ive created this fun little mini featuring some of the fabulous friends that I have made  in the industry. Today I would like to share a few of the pages with you.

Ive used some of the awesome Kit Exclusives :) :) :)

Aren't those wood veneers just TDF?!!! :)

And seriously could I be any morse excited about this feather mask?!!!! :) :) :) 

I used the feather die cut to create a smaller version on the mask so that I could create a masked feather pattern on the cover of my mini album :)

Havent the teams creations been all kinds of awesome this month?!! :) :) :)

Dont forget to check out the gallery >>>>>>>>>>>> HERE :) :) :)

Cheers for now and Happy Creating :)

Louise xox

Matchbox Advent Calendar Tutorial

Hi there!  Amy Kingsford here, with a fun idea for using this week's digital release in your holiday crafting.

I created this matchbox advent calendar for my family last year, using Jenni's 2012 Christmas line. And so many great holiday memories were made using it over our holiday season.

Unfortunately a few of the boxes met their demise at the hands of my two year old--so you can imagine my excitement when I saw that this collection was making its way to the digital shoppe.  Now the fix will be "easy-peasy" AND I have the opportunity to share my project and the steps for making it, for the first time with all of you!

What you'll need:

• (24) Mini Match Boxes
• Advent Star Accessory Sheet (included in Vintage Christmas 2 Digital Kit)
• Patterned Paper (Digital or Paper)
• Chipboard Quilt Stars
• Bingo Pieces (Numbers 1-24)
• Glitter 
• Adhesive

Step 1 - Remove all of the matches from your matchboxes and put them away in a safe place.

Step 2 - Print out 3-6 (depending on the variety you want in your advent calendar) of your favorite pattern papers from the Vintage Christmas 2 collection as well as the Advent Star sheet onto white cardstock.

Note: If printing on 8.5 x 11 you'll want to split your Advent Star Sheet into two like so:

Step 3 - Cut your patterned paper into strips that will wrap around the outer shell of your matchbox. My match boxes are 2" wide and required a length of 4" to wrap around the outside of the shell.  

Note: Depending on how many patterns you chose to work with you'll need the following number of strips: 

• 3 patterns - 4 strips ea.
• 4 patterns - 3 strips ea.
• 6 patterns - 2 strips ea.

Step 4 - You will also cut your entire Advent Star Sheet into corresponding pieces as well, but do your best to make your cuts in the gutters between each row of circles and make sure that they are oriented with the two numbers sitting side by, like so:

Step 5 - At this point you'll need to choose whether to use the odd or even numbers from your Star Advent Sheet and then locate the rest of the numbers needed to count up to 24 from your bingo pieces. 

Step 6 - Wrap your patterned strips and advent stars around your boxes.  Do your best to have the wrap positioned so that the numbers on the advent stars are somewhat centered--deepen creases if needed before adhering.

Step 7 - Cover your chipboard starbursts with glitter and allow time to dry before adhereing them to the top of your patterned boxes.

Step 8 - Using a glue gun or tacky adhesive, attach the numbered bingo pieces to the centers of your stars.

Step 9 - Now your boxes are ready to fill with small treats, prompts for daily holiday activities or whatever else you can fit into these cute little boxes.

I adhered magnets to the backs of my boxes so I could arrange them on my fridge and keep them away from the greedy little fingers and prying eyes of my boys.  We include a small treat and a fun little holiday activity in each day's box.

I can't wait to see how you use yours!

Remember, Vintage Christmas 2 is on sale for 25% off in Jenni's digital shoppe over at JessicaSprague.com through Sunday, so why not grab it now and get a jump start on your holiday crafting!?  

Have a great weekend!

A Classic Jenni Bowlin Studio Christmas : Digital and on Sale !

Our newest digital release is a classic JBS Christmas Line.  It was released as a paper collection last year and was so much fun to create with.

JBS-Vintage Christmas 2

This kit has fun Christmas patterned papers (the Santa on graph paper is one of my fave papers ever) journaling tags and gift tags which are perfect for hybrid scrappers too.  

You'll also find Advent Stars and a full digital sheet of them to use as you wish.  We also have printable pdfs of the stars formatted in popular circular punch sizes.

Chrissy Guido made this layout. Doesn't it feel like we are peeking into her house from a window or door?  Does Chrissy really have her tree for 2013 up already or is part of the beauty of digital - being able to change the date easy peasy?

Audrey Tan always has wonderful texture to her digital pages. I want to reach out and touch them! She used the "December" patterned paper to highlight the month this photo was taken.

Supplies:

Jenni Bowlin Studio: Vintage Christmas 2, Clocks & Numbers, Christmas Bingo Card Kit

Traci Reed & Meghan Mullens: Life Is Wonderful, Christmas Cheer, Christmas Stories

Celeste Knight: Watercolor Overlays 2

Julianna Kniepp: Hello Beautiful (lace)

Mye de Leon: Vintage Vogue (overlay), Peppermint Winter

Font: KG Eyes Wide Open

And now for a hybrid layout from Roelien van den Berg. I just love Roelien's classic and magical style.  This kit has a lot of elements that would work for hybrid scrapping.

Paper and Elements: JBS Christmas 2012
Stars: Mercantile Exclusive Stencil - Scattered Stars
Sequins: JBS Classic Assortment
Magical Word: Heidi Swapp

Take a look at JessicaSprague.com throughout the weekend.  All new kits released today are on sale through Sunday night!

an album to express my gratitude

As I sat down to create this journal, I was struck by how grateful I am that I have the opportunity to work with companies (and people!) like Jenni Bowlin that embrace the style of my work, and what I love! It makes creating such an enjoyable process, and I'm thankful.

I'm just sharing a simple mini album today that I created using the naked chipboard album - a place to add a couple of photos, and a few words to express the things that I'm most grateful for this year. I haven't added the photos, yet - but you can see where I penciled notes to myself on where I'm planning to add them.

Bits of burlap, felt and gold merge for beautiful texture on this project.

And feathers. Sigh. I still love them.

I couldn't resist adding little bits of foil accents from past Mercantile kits...

Happy creating!

~ Leah

Give Thanks...

November is a great month for reminding ourselves to be more thankful of the blessings in our life right? And even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in Australia, I find that it's still such a fabulous reminder to take the time and get a little bit of perspective on some of the things we might otherwise take for granted.

My eldest daughter is 7 and is at a stage where she really loves to write things down. She writes little stories, and lists of things she wants to remember, and letters to her grandparents, it goes on and on. As many of the other DT members have been sharing their gratitude albums this month it's inspired me to decorate a version of the same idea for my daughter to fill in.

I used the ever-delightful October Papercrafting Kit with it's warm colour scheme to build up lots of layers on the front cover. It might look a little complicated but in reality it's all quick and no-fuss because all the tags and embellishments were included in the kit and I've literally just stuck them on top of one another with foam tape!!

The inside is filled with blank pages which prompt her to think about what she's feeling and to list a few things she's thankful for. She's already filled out a handful of the pages, and trust me when I say she's not always feeling 'fine'! But I had to laugh when I read this one right at the beginning of the book. The writing is a little hard to read, so let me translate it for you! It says "I am thankful for my whole family, my washing machine and food and water. I am also thankful for clothes. Also money. Don't forget houses! I am also thankful for toys. I just adore them!"

Not a bad effort for a 7 year old hey? What are you grateful for?

Make it a Handmade Thanksgiving Table!

Grandma's going to be surprised when I show up with these on Thanksgiving!  So easy to make and personalize - those little buttons were my grandma's buttons - you can find the full instructions on the Jessica Sprague Create Inspiration Team blog!

The base is from this digital kit:

Pop on over to the Create Inspiration Team blog and see how's it done!

Home {Grateful}

I am loving all the grateful projects on the blog this month.  Lately, I have been thinking about just how grateful I am for our home and I wanted to create a mini to show this.

The cover was made by painting the Mini Chipboard House pieces grey and cream and then adding Glossy Accents on top to give them a shiny look.  Our house is the smallest on the block, hence the cream colored little house in the middle.  The H-O-M-E hanging charm was made from Alterable Chipboard Alphas Ledger that I inked and added Glossy Accents to.

A JBS Hodge Podge mini album was the perfect start for this album.  Each Hodge Podge package has such a variety of page inserts to use as a base to get you started.  There are 3 styles and the packages are on sale now, so it's a great time to pick one up if you'd like to give it a try!

I went with the "Spelling-Book" theme of the cover and added Flashcard Mini Decks and Hodge Podge stickers throughout.

I added bits and pieces to decorate the album and hold my journaling.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you didn't catch Tina's grateful envelope mini yesterday, take a look!  It's so pretty, practical, and has a great color combo!