I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Joani from http://joaniscardsmadebyhand.blogspot.com/ in the Middle Name Game!

These are the rules:

• You must post the rules before you give your answers.
• You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
• After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers.
• At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.(Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and need to read your blog for details.

My middle name is Jayne so here goes.

*Jam - My favorite flavor is Raspberry and no, I will not call it Jelly that is something different entirely, love that too though.LOL.

*Apes - I love them. This pretty much explains my SCS name and both my blog names. The gorilla is by far my favorite. I have loved them ever since I was a kid and saw the B&W version of King Kong. My favorite by far is Gorilla's in the Mist.

*Yummy - I guess that covers food in general. I am a typical Taurus - Love my food, especially chocolate.

*Nicola - This is my first name. There aren't many people with this name over here in America and they have trouble saying it. most pronounce it with an emphasis on the cola part, just think Ricola and you'll be close enough.

*Explore. My family and I love exploring and have been on 3 road trips since moving to America and have so far seen 15 states in this wonderful country.

It's hard to think up a word and then explain it. Hopefully this has given you al little insight into the mind workings of Gorillamama. Good luck fellow bloggers. I am now tagging:

Lucy - http://midnightmaddness.blogspot.com/

Gabby - http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/

Maria - http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/

Jenny - http://stampingmoments.blogspot.com/

Kathleen - http://kathleenh-myhappyplace.blogspot.com/

Monkey Madness

Today I was feeling under the weather but got stuck into a swap to try and take my mind off it. I decided to christen some new acrylic stamps. I have never used acrylic ones before. But I got these the other day as I couldn't resist them any longer. I love these stamps they are so cute. As you know or at least may have figured out I love monkeys and apes. These Changito ones I just couldn't leave on the shelf.

The swap is a color combo one where I had to use 2 different greens on a card (green is my favorite color). Of course a little pink did sneek in there but I am so happy with the finished thing. I used SU 'green galore' and 'gable green' and then I added 'pixie pink'. The images are from 2 different Changito sets numbered SSC137 and SSC160. I colored them with Marvy markers. I used my cuttlebug to emboss the green galore piece using 'stylised flowers' folder. I cut out the stamp shape also using my cuttlebug mounted with dimensionals. The polkadot ribbon works really well as it goes with both greens. This was a rak sent to me by my friend Gabby. I really love how this one turned out.

Valentine Issues

Ok, I am posting a card I made this morning. It looks a little better in person than in the picture but I still don't think I like it. I just hate it when that happens. This mojo thing is really giving me some trouble and starting to get very frustrating. But I made a promise to myself to post everything I make on here good, bad or ugly so please if you don't like it send me some make a better card vibes and maybe a suggestion on what it is that this card is missing. I so need both right now.

Basic rundown of this card is: I used real red cardstock, Versamarked a heart stamp from SU 'Love Ya!' set. I punch rounded the corners. Other stuff is Doily heart(Target), large heart brad(misc), spotty ribbon(unknown) and rhinestone stickers(michaels).

Mirror Image

Well with my Valentine mojo being on temporary vacation I thought I would try tackling something different to see if it helped. Change is supposed to do you good right? Anyway, last week I stepped up to help a friend in need and cover some of her swaps while she is recovering from a nasty fall. I had to use the reflection technique. I have never tried this one before so was a little unsure. I found the tutorial on SCS and it was very helpful.

The card stock is 'not quite navy', 'bordering blue', 'more mustard' and white. I stamped the image in black ink on the white card stock and again onto acetate like the instructions tell you. Once I had both images on the card I used my new SU watercolor pencils to color it in. I used my aqua painter on the bottom half to make it look like it was water. I cut all the different card stock to size and distressed the edges with my bone folder. I then rubbed the edges of the white card in the 'not quite navy' ink and 'more mustard' ink around the bordering blue card. I mounted all the different layers together and used my new Crop-a-dile for the first time to place the jumbo pewter eyelets. I threaded hemp cord through and tied it then mounted the whole thing on dimensionals onto the 'not quite navy' card stock. I was quite pleased with the results.

I think that's everything. Oops, almost forgot the stamp set used was the wonderful 'Serengeti'. Thanks for looking.

Spotlight Saturday 003

I am presently having card makers block as far as Valentines cards go. I sit at my desk and go blank so while I am waiting for my mojo to return I thought I would share another friends card with you.

Today's card is from Gabby. She is the manager of one of the card groups I am in called Handmade Cards With Love, it's a MSN group and I am very proud to be assistant manager there. She is one of the most awesome card makers ever. I have had this one in my stash for quite some time. In fact I rarely part with any of her cards because they are that darn good. This one, I love to pieces and will never part with, ever. One of my MANY interests is Egypt. My dad's cousin is an Egyptologist. She gets up close with the mummy's and stuff. It's awesome. Anyway when I saw this card it just blew me away. I think you can see why. You can see more of her stuff on her blog. Check out http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/

More Emboss Resist

I have made 2 more different cards with this technique. This one I can show you but the other I am holding on to as I need to give it to a friend and she would 'click' straight away that it was for her. So here is the first installment with the next to follow in about a week.

This card is made using Really Rust card stock and ink. Also used was whisper white card stock, versamark and clear embossing powder.

The sets used are 'Fabulous Flowers' for the image and 'True friend' for the sentiment. I used a corner punch and a slit punch with a white organza ribbon.

I think the ribbon is a little too fine to be seen and am still not 100% sure I like the finished thing. Needless to say I think I have worn this technique out for now and am off to try other things. Let me know your thoughts.

Get Well Kathy

My poor friend Kathy has had a run of bad luck lately and to top it all off she has broken her leg. Today I sat down at my craft table with the specific aim to make her a card to cheer her up and help get her onto the road to feeling better. I hope she likes it.

I chose the SU set 'Reason to Smile'. It sounded perfect for the job. I think the butterfly is so pretty you just cant help but smile. It was it's first trip out of my cupboard since I got it. Seemed like a good reason to ink it up to me. I looked out my trusty 'Sincere Salutations' to go with it. I kept the card fairly simple using Ruby Red, Chocolate chip and white card stock and Ruby red and black ink.

Emboss Resist Technique

My friend Gabby introduced me to this technique and recently did a tutorial for it on her blog (http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/2008/01/embossing-resist-with-tutorialmy-way.html). I fell in love with this technique straight away and just had to make time to try it out. It is alot easier than I thought it would be. I am usually a technique phobic if something looks like it will take a long time or be too fiddly. I do love embossing though.

I used my favorite color for this card, green. The card stock is Old Olive and Whisper white. I used SU 'Doodle this' for the main image and an inkadinkadoo Happy Birthday stamp. I versamarked and clear embossed both images and then grabbed the cotton balls and Old olive ink pad. I distressed the edges of both the white piece and the inked one using my bone folder. I used a 1 3/8 circle punch for the sentiment and my SU scallop punch on white card stock then stuck the one on top of the other. I put organdy ribbon across the middle and mounted the scallop piece on dimensionals in the middle. Voila! I am eager to make some more of these. It was a lot of fun.

It's Raining Mice

House Mouse that is. I had to make a mouse themed card for a swap I'm in. You will notice I use the word swap quite a lot as the majority of cards I make are for swaps. However I am working on breaking this habit and branching out a little more. In the meantime here's a little info on the card.

The image is called 'sitting in the rain 02'. I colored in the mice using colored pencils. I embossed the raindrops using a versamark pen and clear embossing powder. Then I used my SU watercolor pencils for the first time and colored the background. I then wet it with my aqua painter. Providing you are not to heavy handed with your coloring, it blends pretty well.

The card stock is Creamy Caramel and Tempting Turquoise. I used the 'tiny bubbles' folder in my cuttlebug on the turquoise card.

I used the lovely SU choc chip silk ribbon and found in my stash a rust colored ribbon. These are not colors I usually use but I used my color wheel and they just seemed to fit really well. The image took the most amount of time as I am very fussy when I am coloring. Let me know your thoughts.

Spotlight Saturday 002

Well, here we are again. The week seems to go by so quickly. Today I picked a card to show you from my good friend Joani. I am a member of her MSN group (Cards Made By Hand) and an avid follower of her blog. She is the most giving person I know and I'm pretty sure over time I am owing her quite a few RAK's as I have received many from her. Her kindness is an inspiration as is her card making. This card is a RAK I received from her at Christmas. It's a cold day here so I thought this was appropriate. Those penguins are just so darn cute don't you think? You can see more of her creations here (http://joaniscardsmadebyhand.blogspot.com/)

Split Negative Twist

I'm in a split negative swap on one of the MSN groups I'm in (Handmade Cards With Love). I just love this technique. I put my thinking cap on this time and tried to go outside the box by creating a 3 split instead of the usual 2. I am pretty happy with it. I think it looks a very fun card.

I stamped all the images in versamark on black and pixie pink card stock. Then embossed with black on the pink and white on the black. After trimming down the dress to the size I wanted I then made sure that all the pieces were the same size as the dress. I taped them together on the back and mounted them on first white then black card stock. The large piece of pixie pink I put through my cuttlebug with the 'Bloom Dots' folder. Trimmed it to size then wrapped black eyelash fiber around. I put this on my black card base and put my image on top. The flower is a black scallop punch and 2 sizes of hydrangea petals with a gold brad. Because I stamped all three images on both card stock colors I was able to make 2 cards with the alternating images. Please let me know your thoughts.

Embossing, Uh, Huh!

I have almost completed all the cards for my January Birthdays. The last one I had left to make was my Father-in-Law. He is a big Elvis fan so It was not a hard decision to figure which stamp to use for his card. I had the card stock cut from a similar card I sent to a friend before Christmas so I made another. The designer paper is cut diagonally. The Elvis DP I found in a craft store in California before we moved back to Texas. The guitar paper came from Michael's from a Rock Star collection. This is the only paper I have from this collection as for a short time they sold the sheets individually. Now they only have the stack and I don't like all the papers in it. The 2 stamps I used were bought unmounted off EBay. I decided to silver emboss them to go with the DP. Card stock is black and bordering blue. There are 2 square brads in opposite corners. Rock on Dad W.

Die Cut Birthday

Another Birthday on the horizon and this time it is my Mom. She is a big fan of carousel horses so when I spotted a Sandylion Essentials sticker of one for a $1 at Michael's last week I straight away bought it not quite knowing what to do with it. Then yesterday I went shopping at Jo-Ann's with my friend Lucy. We got lots of goodies and spent a small fortune however most everything we bought was on sale. Including dies and embossing folders for Sizzix and Cuttlebug. I bought a Sizzix die to use in my Cuttlebug. It's an oval scallop frame. I am so happy with my new purchase. It worked perfectly with the horse. I used a turquoise textured card stock (Big Lots)and Groovy Guava (SU). The oval and the scallop are raised with stampin dimensionals. Then Prima flowers with silver brads matched the horses pole to finish. I don't make very many cards without stamping but I really like how this one turned out.

Sketch a Card

Yesterday I managed to make a Birthday card for my MIL. It is her birthday next week. I used an old sketch challenge of Gabby's (http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/) . I have been slowly stock-piling them over time and am finally getting around to using them when I am making cards.

I got some rather nice DP from Jo-Ann's on Saturday and it seemed to match all the SU - In colors. I just love these colors right now. I used the Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi card stock. The flower is stamped in Purely Pomegranate and clear embossed on Groovy Guava card stock. I cut out the flower and curled the petals slightly. I used a Rhinestone sticker in the middle to make it stand out. The Happy Birthday is in Wild Wasabi. The sets used are Doodle This and All Year Cheer II. Thanks for looking.

Spotlight Saturday 001

I'm hoping to make this a regular part of my blog. I get some lovely cards from other card making friends. I hope to highlight them all here over time. I'm starting out with my talented friend Sonya. She has recently moved all the way the the Netherlands from here in the US and has not got to many supplies. She sent me this beautiful RAK this week. She knows that I love the color green and I also have a very big and growing soft spot for House Mouse. Thank you ever so much Sonya both for the card and for all your words of encouragement since I started my craft blog. I really appreciate it.

Image Connection

Today's card started out for someone specific and is now an 'I don't want to part with it cause I love it'. LOL. My friend Gabby was very kind when we moved house a couple of months ago and sent me some images. I was temporarily without a lot of my stamping stuff due to it being on the back of a moving truck and she wanted to inspire me. Well it didn't exactly work at the time but recently she sent me the most beautiful polka dot ribbon. My favorite color is GREEN and because of that she new I would love it... and I do. Anyway it came to my attention that the lady in the image had the same pattern on her dress as my ribbon. Well it was a match made in heaven and there was no stopping me.

The card stock is Stampin up Gable Green and Pixie Pink. The paper is from Provo Craft slab 6 (Yes, I've had it a long time!). The Happy Birthday stamp is Stampabilities. The scallop edge around the image actually came about by punching 4 scallop squares and taping them together as I didn't have anything the right size and I don't have the best luck with straight edges with my scissors (I have my eye on some larger Marvy punches, I'm just waiting for the right money off voucher). The ribbon and the image as you know was a RAK. I would love to know what you think.

January Anniversary

I took a break from housework today to make an Anniversary card. It is for my in-laws. They are celebrating 38 years this year. I quite like this card so I may make a few more. You can never have enough cards on hand I reckon.

I used some of Stampin Up's 'In colors'. Card stock and ink are wild wasabi, groovy guava and purely pomegranate. I used 'French Script' & 'Painted Posies'. Both are retired sets. I was looking through my rather full cupboard and decided to air a few I hadn't used in a while. I used my scallop punch and 2 different sized circle punches. The ribbon I found in the $1 bin at Michael's. It has a butterfly running through the middle of it. So very pretty, I hope they like it.

BIG Thanks finished

I finally finished my Thank you cards yesterday. I joined a Thank you swap in one of my groups and was so happy with the design of the card that I decided to make all my thank you cards the same style. So 18 cards later and I am finally finished. There are only 16 in the picture as my swap cards went in the mail last week. I got them finished ahead of the rest so I would not fall behind in my swaps. I chose Christmas colors as they are thanks for Christmas presents.



The cardstock is Garden Green and Real Red. I used 'Think Big' and 'Baroque Motifs' SU sets. The ink is Garden Green. I used my versamark on the green cardstock for the watermark look. The word thanks is embossed in black and the big is embossed using Red Dragon embossing powder. I love it because it has gold glitter mixed in with it and makes it sparkle. I have 3 different sized flower punches which I bought on a visit home to Wales. They are embellished using a gold brad. This card looks so much better in person.

Birthday RAK

Here is my first card of the New Year. I made this as a Birthday RAK for a friend on one of the MSN groups I'm on. I have quite a few January Birthdays on my groups so I have decided to make some more of these tomorrow. This one however is in the mail already as it needs to get there by Monday. I hope it makes it.

I used Stampin' up 'Garden Whimsy' and 'So Many Sayings' sets. Cardstock is Tempting Turquiose and Purely Pomegranite. The inks are the same as the cardstock. The ribbon is also Purely Pomegranite and the spiral clip is from the office aisle at Target.

New Year's Resolution...

This is me following through on one of my New Year's resolutions. To start a craft blog. I have a regular blog which day to day family stuff goes onto but when I make my cards they only really get a brief mention so I decided to get a little more detailed with my posts and to do that I needed another blog to dedicate just to crafting. I hope you enjoy the things that I make. I will also try and show off some of the awesome work I get sent from friends.