Today we are going to go “down under” to explore the beauty of Australia, through JessicaLynnOriginal’s new stamp set called Down Under-Australia Zoo. The images on this set are just beautiful! If I were not swamped with design team projects and an upcoming travel in a few days, I would have made more samples for you. However, I was able to make three:
This Koala Bear is just adorable!
I love the sentiment that I used for the card below and paired it with a Brentwood digital stamp and my favorite Magnolia Doohickey Die called “Lovely Umbrella”.
The last card below is my favorite. I am currently addicted to layering white on white card stock. It is very clean and simple. I also added some vellum leaves and sparkling clear sequins to finish off the design. What do you all think?
As always, Jessica is giving away this stamp set to one (1) lucky winner. Please go to Jessica’s blog for more details: https://jessicalynnoriginal.net. This stamp set also is now available for purchase at http://www.jessicalynnoriginal.com/jessicalynnoriginal-down-under-australia-zoo-rubber-stamp-set-featuring-kangaroo-koala-and-a-kiwi/.
Be sure to check out the other designer’s blog and leave them some love. Here are the links:
Today marks the launch of the new Food and Fitness Planner Stamp Set by www.jessicalynnoriginal.com. This is the fourth planner stamp set by JLOriginal. I love these planner stamps and I use them all the time on my Erin Condren Planner.
Since this is our release day, Jessica is giving away this planner stamp set to one (1) lucky winner. All you have to do is check out all of the design team member’s posts and leave a comment on each blog. Jessica will be picking a winner tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Central Standard time. She will announce the winner on her blog. Our design team will also show you ways on how we all use the stamp set. Please check it out:
Please don’t forget to visit the other team member’s blog and leave a comment to be able to enter Jessica’s giveaway. Good luck and have an amazing weekend!
The spring term for the design team for www.jessicalynnoriginal.com has officially ended, but that doesn’t stop me from creating and designing for JLO Stamps.
I love coloring! It is so relaxing to just sit on my comfy chair in my craft room, listen to my favorite music and color stamp images and bring them to life!
In honor of one my favorite TV shows, Game of Thrones, I decided to color this whimsical Jasmine Becket-Griffith/Jessica Lynn Original stamp called “Sienna Dragonling”.
I first colored the image using my Copic markers, Sakura gel pens, my wink of Stella brush markers, and glossy accents, to give Sienna a whimsical look! Since this image didn’t come with a die, I took my time to fuzzy-cut the image, and then proceeded to highlight the cut edge with my black memento marker to give it a finished look.
Here is the card:
Supplies I used:
Sienna Dragonling stamp set by Jessica Lynn Original
Recollections A2 size card base
Black Card Stock
DCWV Glittered card stock
Copic Markers – Face and Arm – E000, E00, R00
Copic Markers – Eyes – G17
Copic Markers – Hair – E50, E55, E57 and E59 with Sakura Gold Stardust gel pen
Copic Markers – Lips – R85
Copic Markers – Wings and dress – V22, V25, V28 with Sakura Silver stardust gel pen and Sakura white gel pen
Copic Markers –Dragon – G12 and G17 with silver stardust gel pen and white gel pen
1/8 inch. Scor-Tape
Lawn Fawn – Grass Border Die
Gina Marie Designs Tree Frame Die
Sizzix double-sided adhesive sheet (used to adhere the tree background)
Tombow Mono Adhesive
Mini Glue Dots
Flower punch
Recollections purple gemstones
I hope you like what I created today. Have an amazing Memorial Day weekend everybody!
The time has finally come to end the Spring Design team season with a bang! Jessica wanted to give us something special to cherish forever. We were each given a choice to design our very own custom stamp. Since I love bows and hearts, I decided to incorporate both images to use as my custom stamp for my happy mail envelopes. Since I am a card-maker, I wanted my handmade cards to go with decorated envelopes.
My family and friends know that I love hearts and bows. The idea behind the stamp is that when people see their happy mail, they would immediately know who it’s from without even looking at the return address. I take a lot of time decorating my cards, and the envelopes should be the same.
I honestly pictured my custom stamp to be a lot smaller, so when I received it, I was bit surprised. However, now that I have stamped about 50 envelopes so far, I really like the size. Needless to say, the custom stamp is made of high-quality rubber and it stamps like a charm!
Here are some photos of how I used my custom stamp. I also decided to create a shaker card. It turned out really cute!
I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the Owner, Jessica Lynn Mould for being so generous and kind, as well as our DT Coordinator, Amanda Pollock, for having the patience with our schedules and blog hops; and to the rest of the design team, I had so much fun working with you all and admire your amazing creativity! I am looking forward to another great season!
Sharon is next on the hop. Please click on this link to get to Sharon, then hop along to the rest of the team’s blogs (Sharon: http://sharonshowcase.blogspot.com)
If you guys would like to check out the store and have your very own custom-stamp, please visit www.jessicalynnoriginal.com now. (The link will take you directly to the online store) You will not be disappointed!
In case you got lost, here is the full link for the hop:
Hello stampers and crafters! Today is my turn to showcase my all-time favorite Brentwood stamp from www.jessicalynnoriginal.com. It is also JLO’s 11th year anniversary. Today’s post will be a little different. I will not be showing you a ton of card samples. My blog post will be all about my designing process. A little disclaimer, I am still a novice in card making. The tips I am sharing with you today are some of the things I have learned along the way being a paper crafter. I am still learning and trying to improve. However this is my own designing process so I hope you enjoy. I would love to receive your comment as well on what is yours. What inspires you to create cards or scrapbook layouts? Some of you guys are visual learners and would probably like to see some of it in action, so here’s a little YouTube video that I filmed and posted on my channel. This is my “happy” place.
First thing that I do is to make a good cup of coffee for myself. I then turn my iPod on to my favorite playlist so that I can play my favorite music while I work on the card. Lighting a great scented candle is always my go-to. I know that’s too much for some people but that is what I do for myself. I like to work in a peaceful and beautiful environment. Once the room is completely how I like it, I then start gathering my supplies.
From my experience, stamping the image a couple of times is always a good idea because if you somehow mess up the coloring on one image, then you can color another without having to go back and stamp again and again. Trust me, it will save you so much time! I use Memento Tuxedo black ink for Copic markers, or MFT Stamps Black Hybrid Ink. Now, Simon Says Stamp made the Intense Black Ink that is both good for Copic markers or watercolors. I switch between the three!
Before I die-cut the stamped images, I like to clean my stamps by using my all-time favorite cleaner, water and a chamois. Yes, a chamois! You know, the stuff that you use to wipe your car with? You can purchase one inexpensively at an auto-supply store, or order one from Amazon (where I got mine). You can reuse this a hundred times and it will clean the stamps nicely. I used to use baby wipes but they sometimes left some fibers on my stamps. I got this tip from a fellow stamper months ago at a Facebook group called Stamping Enablers. Lawn Fawn now has a stamp Shammy that they also sell in their online store.
Once the images are colored, I proceed to die-cut the images with the coordinating dies but if I don’t, I fuzzy-cut the image using my favorite Fiskars cutter-bee scissors. I also die-cut everything else that I need for my card. I like to use post-it tape to hold my dies in it’s place so it doesn’t shift when I run it through my die-cutting machine. The supplies you see on the photos are all of my favorite supplies in card making. One helpful TIP: I try to use as few colors as possible and also try to coordinate my patterned paper or card stock with the color of the images that I’m using for my card.
Have you ever noticed that popular card-makers always somehow create the most beautiful cards? Aside from using some great tools, this is the main reason why! However, this doesn’t always work for me. Sometimes, I don’t have the coordinating patterned paper or card stock but I try to minimize the colors that I use. At times, I get carried away over-embellishing my cards but then that’s what card-making is all about. Isn’t it? Sometimes I like to create simple cards, sometimes I don’t. It depends on my mood, I guess!
Once I finish the card, I then proceed to take a final photo so I can post it on my social media accounts, like Instagram, post on my Blog or use it as a thumbnail for my YouTube videos.
Another great tip: Lighting is the key to great photographs. I know it doesn’t always work but I will teach you a trick on how to edit your lighting! YOU DON’T NEED EXPENSIVE LIGHT BOXES TO MAKE THEM LOOK PROFESSIONAL!
For my cards, I use a white poster board that I lined up with a neutral patterned paper. Having a neutral color background will always make your images pop. I use a frog pin (purchased from a craft store) to hold my cards up. Once I am satisfied with the position, I take a few photos using my iPhone 6S.
If my lighting is really bad and the sun doesn’t want to cooperate, I use a photo-editor app to fix my lighting (Layout, RealBokeh, or Adobe Photoshop). However, there are a ton of free photo apps out there that can do this for you. You just need to find whatever works for you. Once I am happy with the lighting, I then use another app to put a watermark on my photos (Phonto). I started doing this now because I found that some of my card photos before were (stolen and) used to submit photos for an application to be published at a magazine. Yes, I know it is horrible and I really do not want to specify anymore because I try not to dwell on things and just move forward. I have learned my lesson the hard way. This is why I always have my watermark on my finished cards.
So I hope you guys found these tips and tricks very helpful. I would like to know your designing process and would be really grateful if you share your tips with me as well.
Here are my cards to celebrate Jessica Lynn Original’s 11th year anniversary! Please celebrate with us by going to Jessica’s Blog for more details; she will be giving away a HUGE prize at the end of the week. To participate, download the free digi-stamp and post your link at Jessica’s Blog. Here’s Jessica’s link: http://jessicalynnoriginalstamps.blogspot.com/2016/04/happy-11th-anniversary.html
It has been a crazy busy week for me but I am so excited because today marks the official release day of www.jessicalynnoriginal.com’s Boston terrier stamp set. I have no words to describe how adorable this whole set is. Jessica even included some images to decorate his hat and use it for different holidays. My favorite out of all the images is the big dog image with the hat. I think he’s so adorable! I highlighted his monocle using glossy accents, and fuzzy-cut the shamrock to give him a classy hat accessory. It’s a funny card!
Here are the 3 card samples that I created using the stamp set.
If you’d like to see the other cards that were created by the other DT members, please head on over to Jessica’s blog: http://jessicalynnoriginalstamps.blogspot.com/ I hope I have given you some amazing ideas and have a great weekend!
I am really excited to share today’s blog post. We are launching two wonderful new stamp sets at Jessica Lynn Original called “Toy and Working Breed”. I have always loved dogs! I grew up with them and I can’t imagine not having a dog in my life. They are amazing, loving, funny, faithful – truly a man’s best friend!
The toy breed stamp set is very special to me. The Chihuahua image that Jessica has for this set had a striking resemblance to my beloved pet, Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi was my constant companion and I took her everywhere with me. She was very stylish and had outfits for every occasion. She was super spoiled! I lost Chi-Chi in 2013 and I was really sad for a long time that I still couldn’t bring myself to getting another Chihuahua.
When I first received the stamp set, I really had a hard time trying to think about card designs. I’ve always loved stamping, but I’ve never had stamp images that are so life-like, it was honestly hard to get creative. I am a novice with Copic markers so it was really hard for me to color the images and make it look realistic.
I decided to stamp and color a couple of the images on white card stock. I then fuzzy-cut the images and gathered my card supplies but when it came to putting the card together I was just stumped! I made one mistake after another. I just couldn’t get creative! I left it alone for a few days and decided to look at Chi-Chi’s old photographs! For some reason, I had a light-bulb moment and got my crafty mojo back. I started with a simple card below, but then since I had all the other images already cut and colored, the ideas just kept coming. I guess it’s obvious since this is the very first time I actually have 4 card samples and one Doggie Treat bag for the launch. You can tell I had so much fun playing around with the stamp images, I used a lot of my dies to “dress-up” the dogs.
I am not going to list all of the dies that I used for the cards because I would like to eventually post a YouTube video showing you how I made some of the cards, as well as the doggie treat bag.
Maria Russell Designs 