We've got a new customer gallery at JBS Mercantile!

And to celebrate we're having a give away! As you can see by the cute announcement image (thanks, Betsy, for that!), for each new item you upload to the new gallery using JBS products or kits you will be entered to win a $25.00 prize! You've got until Wednesday, Feb. 1st

********************February Reveal Chat*******************

We're also hosting a chat on January 31st at 8pm central time - reveal night! We have a great time at these! Come on and chat with us for some fun conversation and chance to win a February Mini Album Kit designed by Doris Sander. You don't have to be a subscriber to come hang out with us, everyone is welcome!

Valentine's Day Cones Created with JBS

 I made these for the JBS blog. All month the design team is showing you ways we like to decorate, give gifts, make treat bags, and cards. I made these cones to give to the kids teachers. You can fill them with candy or giftcard/s or home made cookies, whatever! I used some cute hot pink shredded paper to hold the blow pops up in one of my cones. For an extra special presentation you could tuck a little gift inside a vintage hankie in your cone. I also made a few extra to decorate with. In the first photo I have then strung over my mirror. I also show them in a white feather tree and displayed in etched glasses. I used Jenni's chipboard to put the teachers initials in the middle of the bows. I give the supply list and what Silhouette links I used on the JBS blog, you can read about it here: My JBS Cones

New Jenni Bowlin Studio Goodness!

Hey ladies, there's pictures of Jenni's newest release, Magpie, up on the Mercantile Blog! Isn't the color scheme gorgeous! I'm in love with that little truck paper called Salvage. This is going to be the perfect vintage spring color palette, and all year long but it just says fresh vintage to me! I'm crazy about all the hexagons! The stickers are going to be perfect for Project Life. There's more to see on the Mercantile blog so click on over! Stay tuned, there's much more to come!

And Project Life is officially underway here in the Johnson household. I don't know if I'm having more fun organizing my stuff or doing the project :) The container is just one of those everyday basic plastic containers with the dividers you can move around. I like that because I used them all along the font row for the small stuff. So, that's that. Maybe some pics of the real project soon! I'm actually keeping up :) I know, there hasn't been much time to fall off the bandwagon yet!

Guesting For American Crafts!

I'm so excited, SO excited, to share with you that I am the guest designer this week at American Crafts! The theme this week is getting inspiration from quilts - something I absolutely love to do! I used Chap, Amy Tangerine, and Garden Cafe in my projects. These collections were so easy and so much fun to work with!

This was inspired by a single quilt block using mostly Garden Cafe and some Amy Tangerine. It was much easier than it looks. I cut 4 large squares and laid paper strips across them on the diagonal then trimmed the excess off. I printed the journaling then cut it into strips and ran it along the diagonal lines. The second photo, above, shows the layout rotated so you can see the journaling a little better. Definitely a happy girly page!♥ ♥

With this layout, the Silhouette was very handy but you can still do it if you don't have a die cutting machine. I cut 36 2" squares with the machine so they would be exact. Then I designed the quarter circle in Silhouette, duplicated it 5 times (all that is needed with double sided paper if using both sides), and cut out out several patterns. It was inspired by a quilt I saw online by Mandy P., Fabric Paper Glue. You can see it here. She calls this a Drunken Path pattern. This layout is about the second I caught my son giving my daughter a little hug while they watched their Portable North Pole videos - I think he was so overcome with joy (cause he was on the good list, I think he was holding his breath a little there) that he gave her a hug. He NEVER does stuff like that. This was made using mostly Amy Tangerine and a little Garden Cafe.

I drew the stars in Silhouette. Each center square is 2" and each star point is 1/2" wide, adding up to a full 12" complete horizontal row. Again, you don't have to have a machine. You can find a pattern online and trace it or draw your own - especially if you have some grid paper. It was inspired by this quilt here at Quilting With Roxanne. I typed the journaling in Word and set the line spacing really close. I printed it out and used one of the negative star shapes from one of the sheets of paper that had been cut with the Silhouette as a pattern to trace around the journaling. I used Ali Edwards' files for the titlework - I used "wishes" on the  photo and opened "birthday" in Silhouette, traced it, then cut it out. I used all Chap supplies for this one.

This card is based on a Double Wedding Ring pattern. I found a free pattern online, opened it in Silhouette, traced it, then cut it out and used that for a pattern to cut the curved pieces by hand. The Hello sticker fit just perfectly in that spot I thought! This is all from Garden Cafe.

 

 

This is the altered project I made. I had this cigar box but the top was a really ugly faded mustard/brown color. I like mustard yellow but this was weird. I wanted to use AC paper to cover the top. The top pattern is based on a Triple Irish Chain. Again, I cut all the squares in Silhouette for accuracy. I used a mixture of Chap and Garden Cafe - they mix in a cool way I think. I drilled a hole in the top and added a bronze knob on top so my son could get it open easier (although I have kind of kept it for myself with jewelry in it for now, it does say "treasures"??? right? I think it will eventually make it's way to his dresser though ;) ) Along the front I added a strip of chevron and a chipboard frame with, like I said, the phrase "Trinkets & Treasures." I really didn't think it needed much more than that!

I hope maybe you've been inspired by something I've shared and will try a quilt pattern on your next project if you haven't yet!

Happy New Year and Happy JBS Mercantile Reveal!

Here are my January 2012 JBS Mercantile layouts. These were fun to make! I listed which kits I used to make each layout in my gallery at the Mercantile. Did you see the new member perks?? Jenni is now offering free shipping over 100.00 for US and Canadian residents and an 8.00 shipping credit for internationals who spend 100.00 or more. And you can combine your orders until the 5th to work toward that free shipping amount. That's pretty sweet - and the NEW PUNCHES are in stock! Subscribers will now get 5 percent off their additional purchases for the month.

This is the January Mini Album Kit! The binder is a Bo Bunny 6 x 6 chipboard binder - the inner pages are 6 x 6 so the cover is a little larger. The fabric on the spine is plain cream colored canvas but I misted mine with Jenni's Speckled Egg Re-Inker. The fabric took the mist perfectly and evenly. You can find a full list of kit contents here. The kit will ship with color photos of the complete album and instructions. But you get two kinds of ribbon, two kinds of "foil" trims, two different alphas, two sizes of chipboard hearts, a sheet of Hambly transparency, a sheet of die cuts, and lots of patterned paper.

I hope you have a great first day of the new year! I don't think I'm going to be eating any black-eyed peas - do you think I'll be okay the rest of the year? : )