A New Day at Joyful Creations

As I promised yesterday, my blog has had face-lift.  If you are viewing this in a blog reader - be sure to bring up my actual blog and see the changes.  I am absolutely thrilled.  The wonderfully talented Jackie Rockwell, who is taking a break from her personal blog, is still offering graphic design services and I decided to treat myself.  Don't you love her design??

Jackie is great to work with too.  You can be as involved in selecting themes, colors, fonts, etc. as you want.  Personally, the only thing that I really had a big part in is the colors.  She directed me to a great website - {design seeds} and I paged through until I found something exciting.

I also requested the butterfly.  If you have been with me a long time, you know that this blog started because of a church card ministry that my mother started and named "Joyful Creations".  I've always loved the symbolism of a butterfly - death and resurrection - and wanted to include a butterfly as long as it wasn't cutesy.  I love what Jackie came up with.

I did want to re-open my blog with a few cards - using my new blog colors and butterflies!!  The first is a send out to Jackie - you are amazing!


Then I have a bright and cheerful birthday card for Seize the Birthday!  I got the Small Circle Burst from Memory Box and haven't had a chance to use it - it seemed perfect for this sketch challenge!

Then I did one more card to represent my Christian cardmaking roots.  This card uses the current sketch at retrosketches.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog!!   I am so over the moon excited by my new look, if you are even thinking about getting a new look for your blog - be sure to check out Jackie's services!
You Are Amazing

• Stamps: Verve Amazing Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand
• Ink: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand
• Accessories: Memory Box Tessatina Border, MFT Fishtail dies, Stampin' Up Butterfly Punch and white Taffeta Ribbon

Enjoy Your Special Day

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade
• Accessories: Papertrey Butterfly Signature Series die, Love Lives Here die, and Hawaiian Shores button, The Twinery Caribbean twine, Memory Box Small Circle Burst die

God is Our Refuge

• Stamps: Verve single - Psalm 46:1
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up embossing folder (retiring this month!), Paperrey Love Lives Here die, The Twinery Caribbean, Divine Twine Cheery, My Mind's Eye Twine Ginger

It's Time for a Facelift

This is my second post today.  The Alley Way Stamps

post is just a short scroll down.

Just wanted you all to know that my blog will be down for a bit tomorrow.  It's getting a facelift!!

I am so excited.  I've been going along with the same look for years.  I haven't loved it, but I spend all of my free time on my cards - not on my blog!  I have monthly headers that change by the season.  Some of them I like, but I particularly dislike the one that is up now.

So, when it came to my attention that the incredibly talented Jackie Rockwell is still doing blog design work, even though she is taking a break from her own blogging, I jumped on it.

I am giddy over what she has created for me (and I don't often get "giddy"!)

I am excited for you to see it too.  It will be ready to go about 24 hours from this post. What you should do is check out my blog today and then check back tomorrow - be sure to hop out of blogspot or Google Reader or Feedly or bloglovin' so you can see what Jackie has created.

She is wonderful to work with - she'll work with you at any level that you like - for example, I picked colors from a site that she had recommended, but then I handed it all to her and she came up with the fonts and design.  Check her out at https://www.facebook.com/rockwelldesignsblog or http://rockwelldesignsblog.blogspot.com/.  (I'll post these addresses again when you see her amazing work!)

I'll be back tomorrow night!

Deep in the Woods with TAWS

I have camped for my entire life.  My dad was a biology teacher (before he was my high school principal!) and loved hiking and camping in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We took longer camping trips to Utah, California and Colorado in a pick-up truck with a camper topper.  That was back in the days before everything was "dangerous" so my brother and I got to ride on the camper bed over the cab of the truck - what a way to travel!!

Since I met my husband, camping has always been an important part of our lives - but it has changed over the years.  From backpacking with just the necessities in our packs - even sometimes in the middle of winter, to car camping with a tent but also coolers of great food and drink, to a pop-up camper (when the second child came along), and now - as old age sets in! - we have a small condo in the mountains.  We can hike, then come back to the hot tub with a glass of wine!!

So the new set Deep in the Woods by The Alley Way Stamps is going to see a lot of use in my house!!  A warm campfire and S'Mores makes for a perfect evening!


The Alley Way Stamps is now selling kits at a discounted price that include a stamp set (this one), paper (this is a piece from that pad), wood veneer and baker's twine.  Check it out!!  (I used different twine and the button doesn't come with it either.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Deep in the Woods
• Paper: Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, Studio Calico Darling Dar 6x6
• Ink: Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: May Arts twine, button from A Flair for Buttons, misc gems colored with Copics

A Birthday in Starfruit

I have a dear friend who has a bigger collection of stamps than I do.  Can you believe it??  And she lets people come and play with her stuff multiple times a month.  You can bet that those days go on my calendar immediately and nothing gets in the way!

It was her birthday this week and, since she is a Stampin' Up demo, I definitely wanted to go all Stampin' Up on her card!  She's also a big fan of fall and fall colors (she even runs a Halloween blog).  When I pulled out the Pop-Up Posies kit and saw that it had Summer Starfruit brads - I decided it could all work perfectly together for her card!


If you happen to get Stampin' Up catalogs, this Pop-Up Posies kit is in the current mini catalog.  The samples are fabulous with each flower having 8 to 10 layers - so much incredible dimension!  But, I'm mailing this, so decided to give it a try with just two layers.  It's definitely better with 10 layers but I think it is still fun and unique this way - it's like mini coffee filters!!!
I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Well-Scripted
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit, Comfort Cafe dsp
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Pop-Up Posies kit (brad, flower, label panel), Bird punch (leaves), embossing border folder, gems colored with Copics

TAWS BE Inspired: Crazy About You

The current BE Inspired challenge at The Alley Way Stamps is a rainbow of color on a black background.

I'm not a black background kind of cardmaker - but decided to give it a try.

I wasn't entirely certain about this card, so I asked my men and boys.  They liked it!  You have to understand that they don't say they like things just to spare my feelings.  Typically they tell me that my cards have "too much".  Really?  My cards??  They will also tell me they don't like the bling, or the colors, or that I have a smudge or that I colored out of the lines.  It's a good thing that I have a healthy ego.  So...while this card may not totally appeal to me...it appeals to my men/boys who don't want "too much"!  (On the other hand, each of them - even the teenagers -have kept the cards that I have made them over the years!!) I was inspired by the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Lighter than Air (sentiment), Tag-alongs (chevron)
• Paper: scrap
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel button, Divine Twine Black Licorice

CAS(E) this Sketch: Treasure Friendship

It's time for a new sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch!  It's a nice, clean and very wide-open sketch for your interpretation - I look forward to seeing the variety of entries!!

I had this ribbon sitting on my desk.  I've been in a serious purge mood but I just  could not decide about this ribbon.  I love the colors - but I never use wide ribbon - so why keep it??!!  Then I glanced at this sketch and realized that I could use wide ribbon!!



It's the perfect funky floral for that sentiment!
Check out all of the fun design team inspiration at CAS(E) this Sketch! then give it a try.  I love looking each day to see what others have done!

• Stamps: Verve Treasured Words
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: black
• Accessories: ribbon from Hobby Lobby, Stampin' Up Dahlia Assortment, Doodlebug twine

Catered Crop: Make an Impression

The current challenge at Catered Crop is to make an impression...with embossing!!

I was all over that one - I have a large drawer of embossing folders and new ones just keep finding their way into my house!  As I was paging through them, I realized I wanted to do more than just an embossing folder (because I do that all the time) - either lots of folders on one card, or a different technique - then I froze a little because I'm not one to come up with my own ideas. So I spent some time organizing my desk and saw a scrap of paper that had diagonal stripes with a few going a different way - the light bulb came on!  Did I get enough shadow on the card so you can see the strip that changes direction!!??  (I have the worst time photographing embossing on a card - if I get the shadow off of it so it's a nice white card, the embossing "disappears".)


If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to head over to Catered Crop.  I love the Pinterest board that's included with each challenge - so many great ideas.  There's over a week left on this challenge - so you still have time!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words: Hello
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise, Limeade ice, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Hello die, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, misc sequins