Design Team: Jennifer McCrae Week 4 Term 2

Jennifer McCrae's Love Card

Last day of the CHA Blog Hop!!! If you are here, you have reached the end of the hop! See what you can win here! We finish with the lovely Jennifer McCrae, and her beautiful love card! 

Here is her how to:

"Love Is Love"

You don't have to touch it to know

Love is everywhere that you go

You don't have to touch it to feel

Love is every second we steal

Love is love is nothing without you

Love is love is everything you do

Open up your eyes

And you will see

Love is love is everything to me

-Boy George w/Culture Club

Candice...this one is for you!  How did you know that I’m sentimental?!?!?  You peeked, didn’t you!

Yep, its true... I am incredibly sentimental and tend to chose things based on how they ‘feel’.  Music has the ability to illicit emotions out of me and even the not-so-occasional goosebumps.  And because my tastes are based in how a song feels, the genres listed in my iTunes is as varied as the colors in my scrapbook papers.  Classical to Country, Hip-Hop to Rock, Oldies to Alternative and everything in between!  Music is connected to most of the memories rambling around in my heart...  Music also seems to be how I ‘file’ my memories - Certain songs (100’s) are how I remember events - I listen to the song and can recall the moments lived within that song.  Want to know my mood?  All you have to do is see what music I’m listening to and you’ll know...

My parents are very much music people too and my early childhood is filled with memories of them singing to me.  My father used to play his guitar and sing to me; VERY powerful memories there.  So much so that the only item of his that I’ve ever requested was his guitar.  My mother has always, and continues, to sing along with the songs that she’s listening too -- along with singing little songs that she’s made up herself.  That twinkle in her eyes so bright and alive!

This card has elements that ‘feel’ right together... Love, Paris, Earth tones...  But like music, this card has little intricacies that are not picked up on at first glance ;-)

This month I welcome new sponsors; Unity Stamps and WorldWin Papers...  So before I lay out the how’s, I gotta tell you about the ‘What’s’!  lol  What I used, that’s what ‘what’s’ I’m going to tell you about :)

Unity Stamps - Gosh I love these!  Ooooohhhhh how I love these stamps!  Now that you know a little more about me, I’m sure you can see why.  The DETAILS!  These stamps have that nostalgic feel, complete with lines and nicks in them - which make them PERFECT!

WorldWin, CutMates - The CutMates cardstock is also branded as eCraft Diecutable Cardstock and you can bet my eCraft is now powered by CutMates Diecutable Cardstock.  This paper is not only GORGEOUS but it cuts sooooo nice in the eCraft.  Crisp, clean cuts that just fall into my hands!  Love it!  If you’d like to get your hands on some this buttery cardstock - head on over to The Paper Mill store and they will hook you up!

Have you studied the first picture and figured out the unexpected, not so obvious part of it?  Nope, that’s not it!  *giggles*  As Rafiki would say ‘No, look harder’.  Rafiki is the man!

Noooooo its not my inexperienced stamp hands doing not such a clean ‘Love’ stamp.  Although I would LOVE for all you stampers to toss me some tips - Stamps are a new thing for me.

Ok, Ok...I’ll stop teasing ;-)  Aside from the green backdrop paper, all elements were made from the same 12x12 sheet of cardstock!  

What I Used:

Mischief - my eCrafts

Be Mine, With Love stamp set from Unity Stamp Company

Creme de Menthe cardstock from WorldWin 

Watermark Resist - Inkssentials (Hobby Lobby)

Vintage Photo & Peeled Paint - Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Inks (Christmas Presents lol)

Mini Mister - Amazon

Heat Embossing Gun - Michael’s

Zig glue Pen - Hobby Lobby

Scotch Advanced Tape Glider - Michael’s

Mirabelle stack - The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)

How I Did It:

I grabbed the Mirabelle stack, thumbed through it a few times until I decided on the pretty green sheet that has the writing on it.  It even feels COOL - like linen. And then...

Oh, you’re not interested in that part?  I see.  Let’s try this again, shall we?

I grabbed the stack of eCraft diecutable cardstock, plopped it in my lap  and flipped through the 26 colors until I found the one that really complimented the green Mirabelle paper.  Then I sat down at my desk, fired up eCraftshop Pro and created the scalloped rectangle using circles and a rectangle...

Oh.  You don’t want to hear about that either?  Well.  Hmmmmm.

The INKS?  You want to know if I used the inks?  Of course I did, that’s why they’re on the list!  *snickers*  HOW did I use them?  Well why didn’t you say so!  lol!

I took the Vintage Photo ink pad and dabbed it a few times on my desk, Mini-Misted it, laid the Creme de Menthe on it and then dried the paper with the heat embossing tool.  Then I cleaned up the mess, grabbed the Peeled Paint ink pad and dabbed it a few times on my desk, Mini-Misted it and laid the paper on it again...  Dried it with the heat embossing tool.  Then I used the Vintage Photo ink with the Stamp stamps LOL Cut around them, roughed up the edges a little with some sandpaper and adhered them to the card.  I LOVE how they turned out!  

With the letters/arrow - I did the same thing as before with the Vintage Photo ink only... no Peeled Paint this time as I only wanted the brown...  Turned out very nice!  The font is called A Yummy Apology.

Notice the shadowy images on the background?  I used a few more stamps out of the stamp set from Unity and also used a random bicycle stamp (no brand name) laying around and used the Watermark Distress pad instead of ink.  Subtle but a very pretty effect...

Ok ladies - help please!  lol  I’m pretty sure I know what I did wrong here.  LOL  I moved the stamp while pressing, right?  How do you ladies get such clean images when you stamp?  Practice?  Some Ancient Chinese Secret that isn’t Calgon?  Inquiring minds want to know hahaha

I must admit though - I put this new cardstock through the ringer today!  I inked it, dried it, inked it again, dried it again and then turned it over to Mischief for her to torture it some more AND it held up beautifully!  I still got clean cuts even after brutalizing it... I am so impressed!

What do you do to add that little something extra to your projects?

Thank you Jennifer! See more of Jennifer's projects on her personal blog!
http://www.firestormdesigns.com/