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jessica frost-ballas

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Charity Bloghop (+GIVEAWAYS!)

18 Mar

Good morning!  I’m very excited to be a part of an unusual blog hop hosted by the fabulous Sandy Allnock!  The idea behind this hop is to bring awareness to the countless wonderful charities and causes that offer “gifts” that you can purchase in honor of a friend or family member and share how you can create a card to go with your gift.  I chose Defenders of Wildlife and I symbolically adopted a sea otter in honor of my mom (hopefully she won’t see this post before Mother’s Day!).  My donation will support the work to educate people about the need to protect sea otters and to help local communities and the fishing industry live in harmony with these animals. It will also continue efforts to protect sea otters and their habitat from the threat of oil spills.

When I was a child we lived in Monterey for a few years and my mom and I used to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium once (or twice) a week and my favorite animals were the sea otters!  I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever actually seen baby otters riding on their mom’s bellies or if the image is just in my head from magazines (anyone else remember Zoobooks?!) and nature documentaries but that’s the iconic image in my head whenever I think of sea otters.  My mom is also a big fan of the Monterey Bay sea otters so I thought this would be a perfect Mother’s Day gift for her!

When you adopt a sea otter through Defenders of Wildlife you have an option to receive a stuffed animal with your donation.  I chose to forgo the stuffed animal in order to maximize my donation but it would be perfect for a young child!  You receive an adoption certificate, a photo of an otter, and a nice little hardcover folder to hold everything.  Your recipient will also receive a letter that explains your donation and what it will support.  I happened to have a sea otter stuffed animal that I used for a prop in my photo but it does not come with the adoption. 😉

So I decided to make a fairly simple card to go with my gift…just a little distress ink blending and a super cute pair of otters!

I stamped the otters and heart from Mama Elephant’s Otterly Adorable with copic friendly black ink and colored them with copic markers before die-cutting them with the coordinating dies.

Next I blended chipped sapphire distress ink onto a piece of distress watercolor paper and salty ocean distress ink onto another piece.  Then I flicked water onto the panels and  I used dies from the Landscape Trio to create waves.  I stamped the sentiment from Ellen Hutson’s Otterly Awesome (I’m totally loving the current otter trend!) with versamark and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder.  Finally I blended a background using shaded lilac, picked raspberry, and spun sugar distress ink.  I wanted to keep the card fairly flat so it would fit inside the folder so I used regular ATG adhesive to adhere everything together.  Much more CAS than my usual designs but I think it’s perfect for this occasion and I’m pretty sure my mom will love it!

giveaway

Awesome companies are helping inspire you to hop along and leave comments on all the blogs – Altenew ($30), Lawn Fawn ($50), My Favorite Things ($25), and Ellen Hutson ($25)!  Be sure to go say thanks to them on their social media for helping get the word out about giving…and leave comments by Wednesday March 22. Winners will be randomly chosen from the comments and announced on Sandy’s blog on Thursday March 23, along with a total amount we’ve raised together!

You should have arrived from Aimes’ blog and the Ellen Hutson blog is your next stop!  I’ve included a full list of all the hop stops in case you get lost!

  • Sandy Allnock  
  • Lisa Stein
  • Caryn Davies
  • Carly Tee Minner
  • May Sukyong Park
  • Lisa Spangler
  • Aimes Gray
  • Jessica Frost-Ballas –> You are here!
  • Ellen Hutson
  • Julia Stainton
  • Emily Midgett
  • Taheerah Atchia
  • Joanne Soukup
  • Melissa Miller
  • Libby Hickson
  • May Flaum
  • Cindy Lawrence

Thanks so much for visiting today and have a wonderful weekend!  If this is your first time visiting my blog I hope you’ll come back!  You can subscribe via the sidebar or visit me on instagram or youtube!  Happy hopping!
suppliesInterested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!)

Mama Elephant Clear Stamp OTTERLY ADORABLE
Mama Elephant OTTERLY ADORABLE DIE Creative Cuts Steel Dies
Mama Elephant Clear Stamp and Die MEPT320 Otterly Adorable
Mama Elephant LANDSCAPE TRIO Creative Cuts Steel Dies
Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps, Otterly Awesome By Julie Ebersole
Copic Markers
Tim Holtz 8.5 X 11 DISTRESS WATERCOLOR CARDSTOCK Ranger TDA53927
Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets
Ranger MINI ROUND INK BLENDING TOOLS IBT40965
Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad SALTY OCEAN Ranger TDP40132
Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad CHIPPED SAPPHIRE Ranger TDP39907
Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad SHADED LILAC Ranger TDP40170
Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad SPUN SUGAR Ranger TDP40194
Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad PICKED RASPBERRY Ranger TDP40088
3M Scotch PINK ATG ADVANCED TAPE GLIDER 0.25 Inch Adhesive Glue Gun
EK Success POWDER TOOL Applicator 54-04002
Tsukineko Versamark EMBOSS INK PAD Watermark VM-001
Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER WHITE Fine Detail WhiteEP2
Precision Heat Embossing Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200 Wagner
InLinkz.com


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Comments:
115 Comments
Categories:
bloghop, card-making, crafting
Tags:
copic, distress ink, ellen hutson, mama elephant

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Comments

  1. Merryf says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:12 am

    This is charming, and your blending is fabulous! I’m sure she will love both the card and the donation!

    Reply
  2. Kristina "CraftyPaws" says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:19 am

    Marvelous hop for great causes. Sweet CAS card and awesome gift for your mom! TFS Hugs Kristina

    Reply
  3. Chris Handy says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:30 am

    Darling card. Love the colors

    Reply
  4. Melissa Teeling says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:51 am

    Thank you for sharing about adopting an animal, I had not heard about adopting a sea otter before. Love it! Great little otter card, looking so cute!

    Reply
  5. SWH2013 says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:52 am

    Such an adorable card! I love simple cards and yours it terrific. Great charity and should make your mom smile!

    Reply
  6. caryndavies says

    March 18, 2017 at 9:54 am

    Adorable card – and a great cause too.
    Hugs,
    Caryn xxx

    Reply
  7. El Ivens says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:03 am

    Beautiful card, beautiful charity. Who wouldn’t want to adopt a sea otter. Thank you for your inspiration on several levels.

    Reply
  8. Sandy says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:24 am

    Such a cute cute card, adore the soft colors!! Hope your mom doesn’t see this, she’ll be delightfully surprised! ❤

    Reply
  9. Martin Jeanne-Marie says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:25 am

    I love otters and your card is adorable!

    Reply
  10. memalagene says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:35 am

    AWHHH! What a cute card! Thanks for sharing your charity choice.

    Reply
  11. Maxine says

    March 18, 2017 at 10:55 am

    This is a wonderful cause…great card also.

    Reply
  12. JoAnn Burnham says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:07 am

    What a sweet card. Love your coloring. Thanks for sharing.
    A great blog hop and many worthy causes.

    Reply
  13. Pam Wells says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:14 am

    Thank you for participating in the charity blog hop! Mama Elephant has such cute images! Cute card!

    Reply
  14. Julie says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:15 am

    I love your otter card….AND the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

    Reply
  15. Jennifer Scull says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:21 am

    what a simply adorable card to match your donation! I love it! and the sky is gorgeous on your card. beautiful technique. 🙂

    we have been fans and supporters of the Defenders of Wildlife for several years. wonderful organization!

    Reply
  16. Angharad locke says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:31 am

    I love sea otters The card is lovely.

    Reply
  17. Patty Eifert says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:34 am

    Awww…that is so sweet and adorable!!

    Reply
  18. Megan N says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:38 am

    So sweet! Way to put an adorable image to your gift donation!

    Reply
  19. ambecoming says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:51 am

    They are super cute (the stamped ones and the real ones!) and your ink blending is superb. Thank you.

    Reply
  20. Gilda (McStamper) says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:54 am

    Adorable card. Love the amazing background.

    Reply
  21. may says

    March 18, 2017 at 11:59 am

    Loving the colors – as well as the cause!!

    Reply
    • Sharon says

      March 18, 2017 at 4:21 pm

      Sweet card and a great cause!

      Reply
  22. NatQuebec says

    March 18, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    Cool, it’s so cute ! 💕

    Reply
Newer Comments »

Trackbacks

  1. Charity Blog Hop - And A Giveaway! | Taheerah Atchia says:
    March 18, 2017 at 9:02 am

    […] Allnock Lisa Stein Caryn Davies Carly Tee Minner May Sukyong Park Lisa Spangler Aimes Gray Jessica Frost-Ballas Ellen Hutson Blog Julia Stainton Emily Midgett Taheerah Atchia Joanne Soukup Melissa Miller Libby […]

    Reply
  2. Goats! Charity Bloghop – Sandy Allnock says:
    March 18, 2017 at 9:03 am

    […] Jessica Frost-Ballas  […]

    Reply
  3. Charity Blog Hop with Sandy Allnock says:
    March 18, 2017 at 9:42 am

    […] Jessica Frost-Ballas  […]

    Reply

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Jessica About Me Photo
Hi, I'm Jess! Thanks for visiting my blog where I share my adventures in cardmaking and papercrafting! I hope I can inspire you to craft with a little extra sparkle!

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I design for several companies because I truly love their products! Anything I recommend on my blog is something that I genuinely love and regularly use. I do not get paid for product reviews and I will never recommend a product that I do not like or would not use.

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