Christmas in July!

But just barely!!!

I've been looking at Christmas in July posts all month. And it wasn't until last night that I was struck with the urge to create a Christmas card. So, I JUST did manage to squeeze it in before July was over!

My absolute favorite Christmas song is I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. And when I found this adorable hippo digital stamp, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it!

I'm still quite new to digital stamps, and I am loving them! I have made only a couple things using them, but I see a long future with them! I found this hippo stamp at Anne's "Cards 4U" along with many more I can't wait to use!

And here's the card:

Versatile Birthday

Anyone who makes cards knows it seems to be a little more difficult to come up with designs that work for the men in our lives. I'm no different...but occasionally a card happens that will work perfectly for a man without a ton of effort put into it.

Yesterday I chose a patterned paper I wanted to work with and had no idea what kind of card(s) I'd end up making with it. I chose a solid to go with it and even some ribbon. Before I was finished, I had made five completely different cards.

I like when that happens. If I'm going to have the supplies out to make a card, I may as well make a few more with the same supplies, right? Maybe others don't work like that, but I find that I do it frequently.

One of the cards I ended up with was this birthday card. And when I finished it, I realized it would be great for either a man or a woman! The colors are neutral and the ribbon is minimal, so it's not to feminine, but not overly masculine either. I love when something comes out with a bit of versatility to it!

Pink & Green Monogrammed J

I LOVE this color combination! I think it is my new favorite!

A wonderful customer placed an order for four sets of monogrammed cards with matching beaded pens. She chose the color combinations and I went from there. For this pink and green set, I gave her a few different options, and this was the one she picked. I love the way they turned out!

Each card turned out slightly different in the set due to the pattern on the paper, which I think makes the cards even more fun! And I don't know what it is, but making the beaded pens to match brings me so much satisfaction! It always puts a smile on my face!

Be sure to visit JMDesigns on facebook!

Happy Father's Day!

I just want to say Happy Father's Day to the special dads in my life. My own fabulous Dad, My amazing husband and Dad to our children, and My wonderful Father-in-law. Happy Father's Day!

I have two more Father's Day cards today. Very simple, though I apparently was on a shirt kick! I need to come up with some new designs!

You Light Up My Life

Today I'm sharing some candles I've made. I LOVE making these...they are so much fun! And the possibilities for these are endless!

The first one is one I did for a friend who was getting married. If I remember correctly, this was the picture she used on their wedding invitations. On this one, I actually cut out a place in the top to add a tea light so that the candle can burn without ruining it. I still haven't decided if I'll do this again - it was a bit of a pain to do, and I'm not sure if I love the way it looks.

The next one is one I was playing around with for fun. I was testing to see how a color photo would look. This is my parents' "baby," Kobi. Isn't he adorable?

Here are a couple with scripture verses. I made the first one as part of a graduation gift for a friend's daughter. It is her favorite scripture, Jeremiah 29:11.

Here is a short candle with Philippians 4:13 and a faint image of a cross. 

And the last two are Christmas candles. This one says: Long ago, a glittering star led the way to a Holy Child, and today it is said that snowflakes are tiny pieces of that very star, sent to lead our hearts anew to Jesus...the Light of the world.

And lastly are a couple of very simple candles with Merry Christmas.

If you are enjoying my posts, I would be thrilled if you'd "follow" me! Also, you can find me on facebook!

I'm linking today's post up here:

Baby, Baby, Oh...

Oh....no, you won't find what you may have thought you would here! No singing, and no JB!

Instead, I have today a couple of baby cards. I made this quite some time ago and put them in my Etsy shop (which I just "reopened" yesterday. There's not a lot in there yet, but more is coming!). These were some of my very first cards to sell and I was so excited! That was the beginning of my business. I didn't do much on Etsy as I got busy with word of mouth orders. Then life got in the way and I quit creating altogether...but that's all about to change again! YAY!

Anyway...here are the cards:

Oh, and FYI - you can now find me on Facebook! Be sure to click over and "like" me!

For the Graduate

Today I thought I'd share a few graduation cards. I love classic black and white for graduation cards...they are fit for anyone!

Here is a set of graduation thank you cards in black and white.

But I also like to do school colors whenever I can. That was the case in this one.

How About a Little Mother's Day?

I think I'll take a break for a day or two from Father's Day cards and post different ones. I know Mother's Day has come and gone, but I wasn't back to blogging then, so why not put them here a little late?

Often when I create a card I like, I'll create it again in a different color or with just a little change. In this case, I used the same design and changed up the colors.

And I did the same with this one - just changed the colors.

That's all for now - I'll be back with something different tomorrow!

Father's Day 3

Keeping up with the Father's Day theme, here's another card. This one I made for my Father-in-law a few years ago. If you knew him, you'd know why this card was perfect for him!

I have a few more that I'll be sharing this week, but I will take a break at least one day and share something other than Father's Day cards!
And I need to get busy and make this year's cards so I can post them!

Father's Day 2

Here's another Father's Day card I made a while back for my Dad.
Wow, I just checked, and this one is from 2007!
I love simple cards, with just a couple of colors and little embellishment, and this falls into that category!

Father's Day

Since Father's Day is coming up, I thought I'd start by posting a few cards I've made. The one I'm posting today I actually never posted on my old blog. It apparently got "lost" on my hard drive. But now it's found and here it is:

The shirt is an origami fold, and I believe that was my first attempt ever. I made a couple more with this fold, but haven't located them yet. If I find them, I'll get them posted.

Hello!

After far too long of no crafting, I'm ready to "get my hands dirty" again. I miss it too much!

Life has taken over and left me with very little time to play with my stamps, papers, ribbons, etc. My goal this summer is to get back to it. All my supplies look at me so sadly and beckon me to come play. I've neglected them long enough, so I'm going to do my best to make them feel loved again!

A while back, I opened an Etsy shop and made a few sales. Then I started getting local orders and in keeping up with those, let the shop fall to the wayside. Then I no longer had time to work on anything crafty, and it all came to a screeching halt.

When I opened the Etsy shop, I had to create a name for my business. I came up with JMDesigns because JMD are my initials. What I didn't take into account was that it was a fairly common name used for others, but more as JM Designs. So, I was out of luck when it came to trying to get a user name with Etsy, an email, or a URL. Therefore, I had to add the "4U" extension for all of those. But now they are mine, and I'm ready to use them to try to get my business going again.

I was posting (not very regularly) at my craft blog. I've decided to stop posting there, and post here instead. This way, my business name is on my blog as well.

I'm hoping to get back to creating next week. Until then, I'm going to be bringing some of my posts from my old craft blog to this one. They won't be new to the few people who actually read that blog, but that's ok. I'll have new things to add shortly.

Bear with me if there are any kinks on this blog...I know that currently it is still in transition to my "dot com," and it seems to be causing a few things to not work properly. Hopefully it will all be good once the transition is complete.

So...here's to a fresh start on the business journey. Wish me well!