DSB Deer

Wow, this long weekend went by fast! The next 5 days are going to seem very, very long. :sigh:

Well, as usual I didn't get as much crafting time as I'd hoped, but I did find time to play with this cute Winter Rudi image from DigiStamp Boutique:

I also did a little more cleaning and organizing in my room. I participated in a local crafters' garage sale last week and it really helps to simply have less stuff to put away! That is one of the advantages of digital stamps - no storage (other than the computer you use to purchase them) to worry about. :)
Lisa

Totally Papercrafts Christmas

Happy Friday! Welcome to another Totally Papercrafts challenge! This week's challenge is an easy one - just create a Christmas card or project. Easy peasy! Our sponsors this week are Simon Say Stamp and DigiStamp Boutique, so I created this card using a recent image from DigiStamp Boutique. He's part of the Snow Peeps collection.

The layout is based on this sketch from the Sketch Satuday challenge blog. Sketches like this always give me a good excuse to bring out my trusty Creative Memories square punch. And that's my Fab Friday tip for the day - in a design like this use a square punch or die rather than try to cut the squares with your cutter. It's really hard to get all of your squares exactly the same size and, in a layout like this it's really helpful if your squares are completely identical in size and shape.

I'm off to brave a little belated Black Friday shopping. (My youngest daughter needs a coat or I probably won't be bothering right now.) Have a great weekend and, if you go out shopping too, be careful. (There are some pretty crazy people out there!)

Lisa

Sunday Santa

It's Sunday so it's time for another DigiStamp Boutique card! I am using that cute Santa and Rudoph image again - it's my favorite new Christmas image! You can find this Santa along with a bunch of other Santa images in this month's Cute Santa Collection.

Supplies: Santa and Rudolph (DigiStamp Boutique) colored with a combo of Prismaolors and OMS and Copic markers, scallop border punch (Fiskars), rhinestones (Michaels), circle cutter (Creative Memories), paper from my scraps stash, white fun flock (on beard and hat) and gold glitter (on belt).


Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!
Lisa

Black and White.... and pink!

Hi! Welcome to another fun Totally Papercrafts challenge! This week's challenge is "Black and White". Of course, I had to cheat a little and sneak in just a bit of my favorite color, pink. :)

 

Supplies: Always the Flower Girl (Tiddly Inks), pink ribbon (Michaels), flowers (Prima), papers from my stash

This week's fast Fab Friday tip... when coloring with dark colors (like the grey on the bottom layer of her skirt), always start with a lighter shade marker than you think you will need. You can always apply more color or add in shadows with a darker marker. But once you've colored in too dark, it's hard to lighten things back up.

Lisa

Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Well, not yet. :) But this cute new Santa has appeared in the DigiStamp Boutique shop this month. He's part of the Cute Santa Collection. They're all cute but the image with Rudolph is my favorite. :)

I'm really trying to use up my paper scraps, so today's card uses bits and pieces from my stash. Santa and Rudoph are colored in with a combination of Prismacolor pencils with OMS and Copic markers.  I've added some dimension with ribbon (Michaels), a holly "button" (Jesse James), some white Fun Flock on Santa's hat and beard and some gold Stickles on his belt.

Santa and Rudoph are playing along with the following challenges:
DYSU - Inspired By Song
i{heart}2stamp - November sketch
Samuel Taylors - Christmas cards
2 Sisters - anything goes

Thanks for visiting! Have a great week!
Lisa

Totally Papercrafts Victorian challenge

I wasn’t sure what to do about my Fab Friday posts during my guest designer tenure with Totally Papercrafts since those posts are also Friday posts. I really didn’t want to have two posts every Friday and I didn’t want to move Fab Friday (and have to rename it, lol!). So, I’ll be incorporating Fab Friday type tips and links into my Totally Papercrafts challenge posts - the best of both worlds!

First up is my card for this week’s Totally Papercrafts Victorian challenge. Finally a use for that set of vintage clip art CDs that I bought years ago and never used. I just love this little Victorian girl. I'm going to enter her into the Christmas challenge over at the Really Reasonable Ribbon challenge blog, as well.

Supplies: Victorian clipart (Memories of a Lifetime), dark green dp (EK Success), pine dp (Daisy D’s), snowflake dp (Jovial by BG), red cs (HL), ivory cs (TAC), white fun flock, ultrafine glitter, Candy Cane stickles Sakura glue pen, Burnt Umber Palette ink (TAC), ribbon, buttons, holly leaf “button” (Jesse James/Michaels).

Here’s a closeup. Hopefully you can see the glitter and the white fun flock that I added to her outfit.

Now, on to the Fab Friday portion of my post! I did some searching online and came up with a list of sites where you can find free printable vintage clipart. The first one has wonderful clipart for all sorts of holidays!
Vintage Holiday Crafts

I couldn’t resist taking a peek at these adorable animal themed vintage cards:
Animal Christmas Cards
I just know I’ll be downloading and printing off a bunch of those!

I’ve visited this site before and usually find something fun!
The Graphics Fairy

I found this site a little overwhelming (JMO) but there is a TON of images here to look through:
Karen’s Whimsy

If you haven’t visited Pinterest before, think of it as a way to share your favorite browser Bookmarks. Here is a link to their printable downloads. Lots of fun stuff there!
Pinterest – printable downloads pins

Now that you have all those wonderful FREE resources, be sure to play along with the Victorian challenge this week at Totally Papercrafts!
Lisa

You'd Better Believe...

Sally-Ann just released some cute new Santas in the DigiStamp Boutique shop today. I remembered seeing a stamp that said "When you stop believing in Santa, you get underwear for Christmas", so I changed it up a little bit to fit this cute new Santa:

Inside:

It doesn't show well in the photo, but I used some white Fun Flock to give Santa a fuzzy beard and fuzzy trim on his hat. The layout is based on this week's sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Head on over to the DigiStamp Boutique to see the rest of the new releases!

Lisa

Keeping you in stitches!

No, not the laughing kind - the real kind! I'm starting off today's Fab Friday with an announcement - I will be the Guest Designer on the Totally Papercrafts blog for November and December! I'm excited to join this group of talented ladies.

This week's challenge on Totally Papercrafts is "Stitch It!". So, with that in mind I've decided to share some tips for adding stitches to your cards.

For those without a sewing machine or who simply dread the thought of actual sewing, here's a link: Frantic Stamper's faux stitching tutorial

Here's an interesting tutorial on using your sewing machine without thread:  Stitching Without Thread

Finally, Hero Arts has some wonderful samples with actual stitching , as well as a link to the video below, here:  Hero Arts: Adding Stitching

Happy stitching! Be sure to check out the wonderful stitched samples at  Totally Papercrafts, including this card by yours truly. :)

Lisa