Gnome is where the heart is

Okay so I have to admit ...a lot of my customers from my cookie shop TRULY inspire me... normally with special request cookies though!!
One of my newest local customers actually inspired a card from my new cartridge Freshly Picked.
She initially contacted me inquiring on some gnome cookies and only because she is local am I willing to make these. Their narrow bodies would not ship safe enough.. well they may but I'm scarred... I'll need to take that leap because of the growing popularity with these little guys and the "woodland" themed creatures in general.
So she contacts me through etsy and starts with "HI! I have a growing gnome fetish..." and it's her birthday in March so she wanted to add some more gnome touches which also include the mushrooms in my shop as well.

So I think I originally ordered this cartridge thinking of gnome cookies ..and when I finally got it the other day I was dying to try it out!
THE RESULT....

THE cutest little card!  I may have to make some duplicates for my paper shop, I have a feeling these wont hang out to play for long!

Anyways I wanted to share this with you before I get to prepping dinner :)  P.S. GNOME IS where the heart is!  ...and NOW my gnome fetish is growing!!  Thank you Sally ;)

FREE supplies!

Yes, it says FREE.
So a little birdie tells me I might get more people to follow me if I simply give things away for free! I would follow if I thought things would come into the mail for me, and I didnt have to pay for it!
SO here it is, when we hit the first 20 stalkers... excuse me I meant followers I will ask you all to leave a comment, anonymous or not so I can use a random winner site to establish who the lucky guy or gal will be.

"But Jessica, what are you giving away!?" ... I plan to give away supplies to make your very own handmade card for this round, but I would love to share my cookies with you in the near future!
SO please tell your friends, your grandmother, teachers, BFFs, Husbands (although not sure they will want to make cards with us!), physical therapists... anyone you can, share this link and blog and this will give you a chance sooner than you think! If you subscribe you will be made aware of these posts steadily streaming from my fingertips so you will have an opportunity to give a loved one a card you made especially for them! ..and of course I would expect to see some pictures :)
 please leave a comment and tell me what type of card supplies you would like to receive in the mail :)

Please come say hello and become a fan on my CookieXchange facebook page !

Happy crafting! 

Excitement, and my First card tutorial!

So I am truly on an excitement high for all the new things going on right now. Yes I sell cookies and want to share that aspect of how to's...BUT when it comes summer time I won't want to be making them! I work in a space where there is no air conditioning, thats how my house is too! So turning the oven on is NOT an option come mid day during 100 degree temperatures (inside 90).  So do I sacrifice my bedtime (the thing I look forward to all day after running around with my boys....?  I THINK NOT, well the truth is I HAVE..!)?  With my ADD (self diagnosed) this got me thinking as I so often do (not to say they are complete thoughts, but they are thoughts and I don't discriminate), why not use my expensive cricut machine to help me make cards  and sell them on etsy. Sure, why not?!
Well turns out my sister in-law is pretty crafty, also owns a cricut machine.. and I needed some bonding time with her; my loud mouth hasn't exactly made our relationship easy for the both of us! Our wish lists in hand and ideas afoot...nothing but cuteness on it's way.

So with all that random information I am excited to share my very first etsy card from PaperXchange, I call it "Whaley Love You"

I will be adding more detailed tutorial photos next time, I'm WHALEY sorry for the lack of photos in this segment

Now for the recipe:
12 1/2 X 4 1/2 cream cardstock (folded in half)
1 piece of olive textured adhesive mat stack cut at 5"x4"
1 baby blue whale cut from my Life's a Beach cricut cartridge at 3 inches on 60 lb cardstock
white sharpie paint pen - extra fine tip to add stitching
small piece of cream carstock to print phrase "I WHALEY LOVE YOU"
pair of scissors
pop up craft dimensional stickers (in the glue isle)
1 crystal bling for the eyeball
stamp for the sentiment
glue pen (I use the zig 2 way fine tip)
LOVE and patience

So I started out by making sure my husband and boys were fed! THEN I folded the cream card-stock in half and making that fold nice and flat with my bone folder. Cut and then pealed my olive mat stack and added a bit more glue (its "adhesive" but peels off fairly easily) and centered it. Added white stitching around the perimeter to make it look like stitching.
After cutting my piece from my cricut  I added some ink to the sides of the card to make my whale look a bit worn but more importantly he looks more dimensional on the paper. The water spouts I added with dimensional stickers to make those pop as well (also inking up those sides). Used a rhinestone for the whale's eye and added a blow spout with my white pen again. Picked my favorite font for this card on my computer and printed onto a piece of cream card stock the phrase "I WHALEY LOVE YOU" and just cut the cloud free handed...and (you guessed it) inked around the edge. The inking around the edge I think adds so much depth, turns bland into wham...muahaha. (That's the ADD setting in... OKAY FOCUS)
Anyways... once i cut the cloud, I added more dimensional stickers and set that into place. Using the same ink from the edging of my whale and cloud I inked up a "Happy Valentine's Stamp" and stamped that into the inside of the card. Cream on cream crime, I mean stamping.

So that is my card, I added it to my Etsy just the other day, and have been checking the views on CraftCult and there has been a bit of traffic.  Just hoping someone will purchase...

If you have any questions or want to comment please feel free to do so! I want to hear your thoughts!

IM OUT