Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Those nice ladies at Sweet Sketch Wednesday picked my Wryn card the other week for their Top 3 Award. Thank you so much ladies! I am so proud of my SSW badge in my sidebar. :)

Here's my card for this week's challenge, which is sponsored by A Day for Daisies:

I have been a fan of ADFD for a while but didn't have any of their stamps. I bought this one because it was so beautiful and I thought it would make a great Mothers' Day card.  It was also a good excuse to use lots of pink - my favorite color. :)

Thanks for another great sketch, Arlana!
Lisa

SFYTT

Whew! I finished my card in time to participate in this month's SFYTT (Sketch for You to Try) and the Inspiration Photo challenge on the Dancing in Pajamas blog. I have to admit, I really struggled with this sketch.

I adapted the color scheme (red/white/kraft/dark brown) and hearts from the TCP Inspiration Photo:

Colour Q's current color challenge is a very similar one, so I'm entering my card into their challenge as well. (Thanks for the tip, Noelle!)

Here's my card after several re-designs:

Here's a closeup of cute little Angel Yappy:

I popped him up with pop dots, added some glitter to his wings and pink to his nose. I popped up the heart accents with just some foam tape, so they are not as puffed out as Yappy, giving him center stage. :)

And speaking of dogs, I got great news today - my foster dog, Tinkerbelle, got adopted over the weekend. Yay!

Lisa

A Sweet TSG Card

This week's challenge on the There She Goes blog was "Love is in the Air", so TSG's "Puppy Love" stamp set was the perfect choice! (Of course, I think "Puppy Love" is just about the perfect choice for everything because I love dogs and I love Torico's designs!)

And, speaking of Puppy Love, here's my "puppy love", Dixie. Isn't she the cutest dog in the world? My kids will warn you that you may as well shake your head and say "Why, yes, she IS the cutest dog in the world." because I would refuse to admit otherwise. ;-) She's my baby!

From Dixie and me - Have a wonderful week! See you soon.
Lisa

Spotlight on Kraftin Kimmie Stamps

Here's my entry into this week's Kraftin Kimmie challenge - In the Spotlight!.

Kimmie's design team had so many inspiring samples of this technique! I decided it was perfect for this KK image, Chrissy Armstrong's Bird Fairy. (Kimmie and Chrissy should be honored - DH saw me photographing my card and declared this "a cool stamp". Normally, like most men, he's pretty oblivious to my crafting efforts.) I also chose this stamp because it reminded me of my foster pet, Tink and the saying "If you love something, set it free." (There's more to the quote than that, but that's the appropriate part.) It was hard to bring her back today but I am hoping she will find her forever family this weekend. The poor baby had puppies, ran away & was hit by a car, was given up by her owner and had to have her rear left leg amputated. She is a spunky, happy little thing, though. I just want her to get the great new family she deserves. Here she is last night, all curled up asleep on my floor, so peacefully.

I hope you are sleeping well tonight, Tinkerbelle! We miss you.

Lisa

Pearls and Lace

Oh Cathy, head mistress of Totally Papercrafts, you are killing me with this week's challenge - Pearls and Lace! ;-) I'm strictly a blue jean & sweatshirt kind of gal - frilly stuff is not my thing. But, in the name of being a good DT member (LOL!), here is my card:

I must admit that I do like this Martha Stewart lacy border punch, though, and it was a good excuse to actually use some of the pearls I've somehow managed to collect. :)

I wanted to combine this week's challenge with a few other challenges, so I chose the colors to go with the BV color challenge on the iCopic blog (I used BV00, BV02 and BV04). And I chose a Miss Anya stamp because this week's Farm Fresh Challenge also called for lace. I'm also submitting this card into the Simon Says Stamp "Anything Goes" challenge (you can find the Anya stamps in their shop), Cute Card Thursday's "You're a Gem!" challenge and into My Mums' Craft Shop's "Flowers" challenge. (I didn't add any flowers to my card, but there are flowers on the DP.) My layout is based on an old sketch (#114) from the Card Patterns blog. (I love their sketches.)

Be sure to head on over to the Totally Papercrafts challenge blog to check out the other DT members' cards and to play along yourself. You could win a gift certificate from the fabulous Emma of Crafty Emma's Store.
Lisa

What a Stitch!

The challenge this week at Mo Manning's DP2 Challenge blog is "Stitching (Real or Faux)". I've mastered straight stitching on cards with my sewing machine, so I decided to go for it and try using zig zag stitch on my card:

One of my bosses is having surgery next week to remove some plaque from his carotid artery. So, most "get well" images didn't fit - he didn't have a stuffy nose, or a headache and he wasn't going to come home from the hospital with a cast. And anything "cutesy" definitely wasn't a fit for my Mr. Outdoors, Mr. Fixit, Bill Nye the Science Guy boss. (He's the head of our high school Science dept.) Ever since he and his wife had a new home built a few years ago, Dan has a never ending list of home projects. So, I chose this Mo image and typed up an inside sentiment of "Hope the doctor gets you all fixed soon!". Obviously, girly extras were out, so I used some hardware and twine to embellish Mr. Fixit.

I also made a second card for his Biology Club kids to sign:

Our school colors are purple and gold, hence the color scheme. :)

I'll be back on Friday with a new Totally Papercrafts challenge card. See you then!
Lisa

One More For the Road...

I managed to get a lot of cards done this weekend, so I decided to squeeze in just one more starring these two cuties from There She Goes stamps (Puppy Love).

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
There She Goes - Back to Nature
Top Tip Tuesday - Sketches
Paper Sundaes - Paper Piecing

This last challenge reminded me of what I love and hate about paper piecing. I love how it looks! I hate to do it. :)

My Top Tip Tuesday tip for making your own sky background - start at the top of your white cardstock and work your way down. Slightly overlap and tilt your cloud template as you work down the page, slowly adding more blue ink and overlapping any sharp edges. Give it a try - it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

Lisa

Color UN-favorites

This week's Tiddly Inks challenge was to use green, yellow, orange and blue in your project. I immediately remembered this scrap of Scenic Paper I'd bought years ago. I bought the only sheet of this paper and I have been hoarding leftover bits of it (reverently) for years. Don't ask me why. I hate green AND I hate orange. So, how could I love this paper so much? A true sign of a very serious paper addiction. :)

Coincidentally this week's iCopic challenge was to use your "unloved colors". Well guess what? Orange and green qualify for me! I did, however, get to use one of my very LOVED Tiddly Inks images, Wryn. She is just the cutest!

Since the paper was rather, um, busy (to put it mildly!) I kept my embellishments to a minimum. Just a few Prima flowers with brads, a sprig of a Martha Stewart leaf punch and an old TAC sentiment stamp cut out with a Nestabilities die.

Hope you found some time this weekend to get crafty!
Lisa

A Spike in Productivity...

A third post for today. Whew! If you're looking for my Totally Papercrafts card, please scroll down to my first post of the day. :) Thanks!

My image is the adorable Louie from DigiStamp Boutique and my card was inspired by this beautiful sample from my fellow DSB dt member, Jenny. For my layout, I used this week's sketch Sketch Saturday. Another great sketch from this challenge blog! I'm also entering this into My Mums' Craft Shop - favorite color combo and Pile It On Challenge's Furry Friends challenge.

Have a great weekend!
Lisa

Winter Wonderland

Yay! I finally got a chance to play along with a Lawnscaping challenge! I have been in love with Lawn Fawn stamps ever since I discovered them while bloghopping. (Bloghopping it so dangerous to my finances, lol!) This week's challenge was "Winter Wonderland", which is a pretty fitting challenge right now. After an usually warm winter, we are finally getting a real taste of winter. (I will gladly take those 50 and 60 degree days back in exchange for the freezing temps we're getting now, thank you very much!)

Isn't this Winter Fox stamp just too cute? This was my first time inking her up. It's also the first time I used this cool swirly Sizzix Sizzlet die. I am loving my clean craft room. I have rediscovered so many goodies! :)

I'm also entering my card into the following challenges:
The Sweetest Thing- sketch (I love this sketch!!)
Paper Sundaes - choose your favorite challenge*
*I chose the "Out with the Old, In with the New" challenge. My papers are old leftovers from my time on the PaperWorks design team. The sweet Winter Fox stamp is new.

See you later this weekend. I am on a cardmaking streak and loving every minute of it! :)
Lisa

Totally Papercrafts Challenge

Welcome to another Totally Papercrafts challenge! This week's challenge is to make your own flowers. I made mine using a couple of punches. I tried to come close to matching some of the flowers in my dp. I *love* this dp from My Minds Eye.

I love this little Ketto stamp from Stamping Bella so I'm also entering this card into this week's SB challenge - use your favorite SB image as well as the following challenges:
Deconstructed Sketch - sketch 31
The Poodles Parlour - Button up

Have a great weekend filled with lots of stamping time!
Lisa

Keeping It Simple with Mo

So much for having lots of time over the 3 day weekend to stamp. Ha! However, I did get the bulk of my craft room clean up done and could even vacuum it today, I don't normally get excited about vacuuming, but in this case, it was an exciting accomplishment! ;-)

I did, however, have time to put together a quick card for this week's Digital Pencil/Mo Manning challenge - Clean & Simple. This has always been one of my favorite Mo images, yet I've never made a card with it. However, as part of my craft room clean up, I challenged myself to only use an image I'd already printed/stamped and to only use paper from my scrap stash. (Believe me, with as many scraps as I have this was not a hardship! lol!)

This project started out as a birthday card. However, while going through my word stamps, I found this old phrase stamp from The Angel Company and I thought it fit this image so perfectly. So, now it's a thank you card with "Thanks!" typed on the inside. :) I am also entering this card in the following challenges:
Sentimental Sundays - Ribbon (and a sentiment)
Crafts and Me Challenges - Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday - You're Having a Laugh

Well, no more fun in my nice clean stamping room tonight. (And, yes, I did clean up after myself!) Back to work tomorrow - yuck! At least it's a short one.

Have a great week!
Lisa

Friends are the Flowers of Life - Tiddly Inks Blog Hop

I actually have two posts today. (Shocking, but true! LOL) If you're looking for this week's Totally Papercrafts challenge, scroll on down. After you check out my entry into the Tiddly Inks blog hop, of course. ;-)

I'm so excited to be participating in today's blog hop. I've been a fan of Christy Kroll's work ever since I "discovered" her through her work for Stamping Bella. I love, love, love the new Wryn character. She is just too sweet - but you can see she has a fun and maybe even a slightly spunky side to her, too. She reminds me a lot of my youngest daughter. (Even though my own little Wryn is now a teenager and taller than me!)

Without further ado (or blabbing from me!) here is my "Friends are the Flowers of Life" blog hop entry. I used this week's Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch for my layout. I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I can't wait to see all the other great cards along the blog hop!
Lisa

Spots and Stripes

It's Friday so that means it's time for another fun challenge from Totally Papercrafts. This week's challenge is "Spots and Stripes".  While cleaning out my craft room, I found some cute yellow and aqua spotted Amuse notecards. (Not sure when or where I bought them. Eek!) I was anxious to use of one my new Your Next Stamp (YNS) stamps, so I decided to pair the YNS chick with a yellow Amuse notecard. I had to cheat a bit on the stripe part of the challenge - if you look carefully at the mat behind the little chick, you'll notice the subtle stripes in this Wild Asparagus paper.

Other challenges I'm entering:
Cupcake Craft Room - anything goes
My Mums Craft Shop Challenges - something new (the YNS chick)

I've recently rediscovered my Prismacolor pencils. As much as I love my Copics, I do still love the feel of laying down colored pencil on paper. And I love the shading I can get when I use OMS (odorless mineral spirits) with the pencils. I guess I never did outgrow my love of coloring. :)

I"m also happy that I think I've finally figured out a good arrangement for my light box and light. I am plagued with a house that doesn't have a single good place to photograph with natural light. I found a tip online to use clamp on work lights from the hardware store along with full spectrum light bulbs (GE "Reveal", for example). Ta-da - lighting success! I hardly had to fiddle with Photoshop at all!

Head on over to the Totally Papercrafts blog and check out the other Spots and Stripes samples. And be sure to play along for a chance at a great prize from Alota Stamps!
Lisa

The Sweetest Thing

We had a snow day today so I got to spend lots of time in my craft room - yay! I finally got a chance to participate in the current sketch challenge at The Sweetest Thing blog.

I used the adorable Valentine Willow from the current DSB offer of the month. Other supplies include dp from The Paper Studio (HL), Scarlet cs (TAC), Fiskars scallop border punch, Creative Memories cutting system, Copics, glossy accents (on balloon) and rhinestones (Michaels).

I'll be back tomorrow with two posts - the newest challenge from Totally Papercrafts as well as my entry into the "Friends" Tiddly Inks blog hop. See you then!
Lisa

January Images Are Up!

There are several new releases available over in the DigiStamp Boutique, including a cute new Valentines image collection. (You can buy the images separately, but the collection set is an awesome bargain!) I used the little Valentine bunny image for this card:

Supplies: Valentine bunny (DSB), bitty dots dp (PTI), Copic markers, border punch (Martha Stewart), ribbon, Hibiscus Burst cs (PTI), red and light pink cs, oval pattern Custom Cutting System (Creative Memories), scalloped die (Nestabilities), pink glitter, white fun flock (bunny's tail) and "I love you" sentiment stamp (TAC).

Isn't he sweet? I'm entering him in the "Something New" challenge over at the My Mums Craft Shop challenges blog.

Head on over to the DSB store to see the rest of the new releases including a fun birthday animal set, the Snuggles.
Lisa

Meet Wryn!

I'm a fan of Tiddly Inks images and love this new character, Wryn. She is just the sweetest! I am entering my card in this week's Tiddly Inks "Celebration" challenge.

I've been spending a lot of time cleaning out my craft room and am very committed to using up some of my stash, especially my paper scraps. I did have to cut a new sheet of cardstock (boo hoo!) for the brick colored background layer but I'm proud to say all the other paper was from my scrap collection. Yay!

Have a great week!
Lisa

Welcome back!

After a holiday break, I'm back with the new challenge from Totally Papercrafts. This week's challenge is a sketch challenge:

My take on the sketch:

I'll admit I'm not usually a big fan of the criss-cross in the middle type of sketch but I did have fun with this one. I bought this Miss Anya Lounge set ages ago and haven't used it, but I thought one of the Anyas would be just perfect for this card. This week's Totally Papercrafts sponsor is the awesome Simon Says Stamp, which carries this and other stamps by The Greeting Farm as well as the Bo Bunny Snowfall paper that I used.

I am entering the beautiful Miss Anya in the following challenges:
TGF Farm Fresh Challenge blog - blue + white + one other color (brown)
Pile It On - Anything Goes
Crafts And Me - Anything Goes
iCopic - Smooth, shiny hair

Head on over to Totally Papercrafts and check out the other great DT cards. And be sure to play along for a chance at a great prize from Simon Says Stamp!

Lisa

Off to a Sweet Start!

The Lili's Little Fairies challenge blog is offering up some wonderful blog candy to start out the new year, including a gift voucher to the Lili of the Valley store.  I love their stamps - they are so cute!

There are several other vendors' prizes being given away. Definitely check out the challenge blog!
Lisa

Happy New Year! Happy New Sale!

For one week only, all images in the DigiStamp Boutique are on sale - 30 percent off. Head on over and pick up some great images like this cute Hattie and her dog:

I'll be back soon with another card before I have to head back to work (blech!). Hope your holidays were good ones!

Lisa