Love card by Mindy Miller

If you haven't tried the new Jenni Bowlin punches by Fiskars, what are you waiting for? They are perfect for card making (and pretty much everything)!

I used both the Picture Frame Medium Lever Punch and the Blue Ribbon Large Squeeze Punch to create this Valentine's card.

I punched small picture frame shapes from a variety of JBS patterned papers and Coredinations cardstock. Then I arranged the shapes within a small grid sewn on the front of the card.

To set off the JBS pink pearl buttons, I layered them on top of pinked circles made with the Blue Ribbon punch.

While I kept the sentiment simple, I love the dimension of the JBS vintage shadow alpha stickers.

Here's a list of the patterned papers I used:

Be Our Guest Sewing Room

Be Our Guest Tea Towel

Red & Black Extension IV Inkwell

Red & Black Extension IV Letter Chart

Happy Crafting!

Mindy

Back to School with Mindy Miller

With all this talk of going back to school, I stopped to think about my school days and how I've never really captured any of those memories from my own perspective. Who was my favorite teacher? Who or what inspired me?

Looking back, I loved third grade and I wanted to capture a snapshot of my memories in a layout.

My inspiration for this design was a chalkboard. First I machine-stitched a grid of one inch squares on black cardstock to create my faux chalkboard. Then I added a collage of Jenni Bowlin products to embellish my "chalkboard".

I primarily used patterned papers from the Be Our Guest collection, plus Core Impressions Cardstock. In addition, I used a piece of Mini Classic Die Cut label paper and a red label sticker as journaling spots.

The whimsy silhouette stamp was the perfect replacement for an "i" in my title. I also used the ruler border stamp in the collage.

This layout prompted a fun walk down memory lane, but I also wish I would have captured more of these memories in my own handwriting at the time. With that in mind, consider using this concept to involve your kids in memory keeping right now and have them journal about the current school year.

Mindy

Guest Star Kim Jeffress!

Today we have a feast of inspiration from Guest Star Kim Jeffress! Kim brings us three layouts that artfully mix two of our recent lines, "Haven" and "Be Our Guest," along with an display piece and a charming set of refrigerator magnets featuring our Tart Tins and Reader Chipboard Buttons. Thanks so much for the inspiration Kim! For even more inspiration from Kim, be sure to visit her blog, Glass Half Full.

Welcome to the JBS Team Briana Johnson!

I am so excited, thrilled, awe-struck, feelin' on top of the world to be joining the JBS Mercantile team! This is a real scrappy dream come true! I have so much appreciation for the things Jenni designs and the design team she has in place to showcase them. I remember when her products first hit the scene. There was nothing else like them! I've always loved going to antique stores and auctions and it was so cool to finally have scrapbook supplies that had that same feeling - two things I love, combined: vintage and scrapbook supplies. Really, this is just as good as it gets for me! I can't wait to get started!

So a little about me. I'm a stay at home mama. I've been married 11 years as of two days ago. I have two kids, a 5 year old boy and a three year old girl. I scrapbook mostly about my family. My second favorite thing to scrapbook about is where we travel, even just the little places. Sometimes I let the product be the guide and sometimes the photos are the starting point. I like to scrapbook 12 x 12 or double 8.5 x 11. I've been scrapbooking since I was 16. I've been getting Jenni's kits for the past two years and I've never met one I didn't like!

Welcome to the team Briana Johnson! We are excited and thrilled to have you joining us! :)

Shimelle Laine in THE Dress

It's a very inspiring day today with Shimelle Laine and the Be Our Guest collection . . .

My first chance to play with all the new goodies from the Be Our Guest collection!

I started with the pink check as the background. Love that the new cardstock-weight paper makes it great for a page background without any extra cardstock. Perfect!

Then stamped the ledger design with fountain pen ink in the bottom corner, and used two journaling cards in this cluster of embellishments - the pink silhouette from Be Our Guest and also the red carnation from an earlier pack. I write my journaling on the blue ledger paper from Be Our Guest and cut it to fit a glassine envelope, then added some black floral ribbon (American Crafts) to the journaling for more dimension. There's also a button card in there as an embellishment. Just inked the edges and left the buttons as they came. Of course there's also an embellished butterfly there and there's a JBS pearl sticker on the flower with a smaller butterfly sticker at the top left corner. The 'photographs' stamp is one I found at an antique fair for £1, and I stamped it with fountain pen ink on a scrap of old book paper.

The journaling is all about the dress and its quirks. I wanted something not long but not actually 'short'. I wanted white with some colour (preferably pink). I wanted sleeves even though it was summer. And a peter pan collar. And in the end I found all of that in one dress by a London designer, Candy Anthony. Once I found the dress, everything else fell into place!

Other supplies - Thickers letters for the title (American Crafts), Martha Stewart border punch, House of 3 diecut in the top left corner and some elastic cable by Making Memories. The photo is by SJ Dowsett. (Scrapbooking brides: put your dress back on just a bit after the wedding/honeymoon and get a scrapbooker to take pictures of you. You will be so very glad you did.)

SO Beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration Shimelle!

Guest Star Marcy Penner!

We briefly interrupt Dime Store Week to bring you Guest Star Marcy Penner! YAY!

Marcy says, "I really love this new collection! The stamps alone are stunning! For my layout I wanted to utilize the banners, but I wanted them to have movement. So I traced the large chipboard banners on the new papers and even used the polka dot pattern of the packaging for one and then simply trimmed them out. With them made out of paper I could curl them a little. For the banner stickers I stuck them on cardstock first, cut them out and then folded them."

Beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration Marcy!

Guest Star Staci Taylor!

Hello! Welcome to another day of Mini-album Week! We're having so much fun with our friends at Write.Click.Scrapbook in sharing mini-album inspiration with you! Today we have a darling mini-album (plus three other fabulous projects) from guest star Staci Taylor. Check back later this evening for a mini-album organization post from our design team. And goodness! We have still more mini-albums to share on Saturday and Sunday as well!

Staci writes, "I wanted to make a mini of my three kids, and the JBS mini was perfect forthis! I traced over the faint design on the front cover with black pen to makeit stand out more, and then I distressed the chipboard with a small amount ofwhite paint. The chipboard banner pieces were perfect for displaying my kidsnames on the front cover. I used a lot of JBS packaging inside the album, aswell as some of the mini-papers - they're a perfect size for a mini-album!"

"I used the tart tins and the butterfly stamp to make a mini-mobile to hang inthe entranceway to my daughter's room (I had to take pics outside, though, as itwas too dark inside!). I attached two of the tart tins with ribbon, and I hungsome pearls around the bottom of the top tart tin. To make the butterflies, Istamped the image onto a transparency with watermark ink. I then heat embosseddifferent colors (I used white, silver and a glittery pink). I cut thebutterflies and attached them to some twine... fun and easy!"

All so very beautiful! Thanks for the inspiration Staci!

Inspiration Journal by Kerry Lynn Yeary

Hi everyone, kL here!
It's my turn today to share a minibook for JBS + Write.Click.Scrapbook Mini-Album Week! And, after perusing my mini, and entering the giveaway in the previous post {here} don't forget to check in at WCS for double the inspiration as well as another giveaway!



As most of you know I adore using vintage books, especially old readers digest's because underneath those boring paper covers are almost always amazingly beautiful vintage patterns, like in the cover above. I'm also a huge fan of inspiration boards, but sometimes, rather than clear the one I have in the studio I like to make a mini version where I can journal, paint and add inspirational images instead. It gives me some time to play with new product or new techniques, without worrying about the outcome and the bonus is that I will have a beautiful journal at the end that I can use for future inspiration on layouts or altered projects.



For this inspiration journal cover I added of the new be our guest pattern paper and some vintage ledger paper to some large JBS chipboard flowers & then sanding the edges & sewing. then I layered them under a vintage tin butter dish with the 4"x4" schoolhouse paper {here} and the much loved pinked circle with some martha stewart micro-beads added to the top. add some extra embellies and a few charms and then attach to the book cover with a glue gun.



For the pages of my mini I removed the interior pages from the book and then made 6 piles of 10-12 pages that i then sewed together for 6 gathered pages. Then I added some linen fabric along the sides {for a little diy binding} and then add grommets and link together with the cover with some ball & chain {I re-purpose these from those chipboard sets we all have in our stash}.



The interior pages have alot of paint doodling using the new JBS for ranger dabbers and I also added alot of my favorite rub-ons from my stash, like transferware which is one of my all time favorites as well as pearl buttons and pearl flowers.



The goal here is to play and fill the pages, and eventually there will be inspirational quotes and pictures added as well.



some more paint doodling and a strip of one of my most favorite pieces of vintage barkcloth fabric.



The chipboard butterfly was also painted with the dabbers by using them as a wash {diluted heavily with water}. after it dried i applied more of the transfer-ware rub-ons and used a white sharpie paint pen inside the rubon flowers.





I'll be back in a few days to share more so you can see the inspiration pieces once added.
happy thursday!
x0

Guest Star Julie Fei-Fan Balzer!

Welcome back for another installment of Mini-Album Week! Be sure to check Write.Click.Scrapbook for double the inspiration!

we have a ton of inspiration to share from guest star Julie Fei-Fan Balzer! Julie is an amazing artist who dabbles in a wide variety of mediums. I think you will find many things to love on her blog. Today we wanted to focus on her love of art journaling. She offers great tips and tutorials on art journaling weekly and is so encouraging to newcomers to the art form. I think she would tell you that the mini-album is actually a fun place to dip your toes in the painty water of art journaling. It's small and less intimidating, so it's perfect for exploring your artistic side. Give it a try! :)

I told you Julie had dropped off a ton of inspiration! Not only a peek into her art journaling, but more than a peek into her scrapbooking style as well. Here are four layouts Julie has shared with us featuring our latest release, "Be Our Guest."

Here she made a great tribute page that is just perfect for Mother's Day . . .

The new receipt stamps . . . perfect for journaling . . .

She used a pack of journaling cards to frame several photos of her sweet mother.

A super fun layout of a paris trip . . .

She kept the label stamps together to make a great grid with patterned paper inserts . . .

And here is a hand drawn replica of the Eiffel Tower with an adorable patterned paper ruffle.

And now a heartfelt layout with her husband . . .

I love how the rub-on silhouettes are the focal point of this page; they really speak here . . .

The tiny paper heart is such a lovely detail.

And an awesome page that focuses on another of her artsy loves - sewing . . .

The sunburst stamp made into a border . . .

The pink lady silhouette used for a journaling spot . . .

and some outlining on her photo. Fabulous! Thanks for the inspiration Julie!