acs paper creations

WCMD Winners Blog Hop, er, Winners! ~

2012-02-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

Hey there, friends! Sorry, I've been spending a little quality time with my coffee and couch and suddenly remembered that it's time to pull the winners of my WCMD loot and Paper Crafts magazine draw. So without further ado, here are the winners via Random.org. {I've never figured out how to copy the little box thingy, so I just highlight and copy everything. Doesn't work just right, but oh well!}

WCMD Loot winner ~
True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 210
Result:143
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Cassie said...love your take on the card! especially the soft khaki colors and then the pop of color with the butterfly. thanks for the chance to win goodies!February 17, 2012 9:54 PM

Paper Crafts magazine winner ~
True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 210
Result:87
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Sandi said...beautiful card!February 17, 2012 12:30 PM

Congratulations, ladies!! Email me at acspaper@hotmail.com with your snail mail addresses, and I'll get your goodies off in the mail!

Thank you to everyone for stopping by and leaving such wonderful comments! This has been such an amazing experience! Hope you all have a wonderful day!! :o) lyss

WCMD Winner Blog Hop ~

2012-02-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday to you all! Welcome to the Paper Crafts magazine and World Card Making Day Winners blog hop! We have some great inspiration and some wonderful giveaways for you today! If you are following along in the blog hop, you should have come from the Paper Crafts blog! I’m the first stop on this hop – you've started out on the right track!
I was surprised and honored to find that I had been chosen as a winner...a few days after the initial winners were chosen. On an incredible act of honesty and integrity, one of the winners stepped down and I was chosen as the fifth winner in the category. You can read about it here.
For my project today, I was inspired by my card that was picked. I chose to use the same earthy tones as a jumping board for my card. Here is a little peek at the winner

And here is the card I made especially for today!

I used the negative die cut space of the butterfly as my pop of color. I’ve been seeing a lot of this around blogland, so I thought I’d give it a go myself. Also, many have been adding some shading to solid stamped images – I don’t know who started the trend, but it’s genius! So much more depth and dimension! For a finishing touch, I added some glossy accents to the little berries. Thanks so much for bopping on by! Here are the details of the hop:
There are two ways to win a prize from me!
1. Comment for a chance to win some goodies from my winning loot!

Spellbinders Banner Basics Two Dies
PSA Essentials Stamper & 2 stamp sets
EK Success Brenda Walton Swirl border punch
Color Box Limited Edition cat’s eye Chic ink pads
Studio Calico Die – Cuts
Elmer’s Craft Bond adhesives
the card I posted here!
{Sorry, I can only ship these items within the continental US}

2. Comment for a chance to win your very own copy of the March/April 2012 issue of Paper Crafts magazine featuring the WCMD winners!

Blog comments close on Monday, February 20th at 11:59pm (PST) and the winners will be announced Wednesday, February 22nd on each designer’s blog.
Your next step on this fabulous hop is the insanely talented Amber Daigre of Damask Love. If you get lost along the way, head back to the Paper Crafts blog. Again, thank you so very much for stopping by, and I’ll thank you in advance for your comments {wink}! Have a super weekend! :o) lyss

January SFYTT ~

2012-01-25T09:38:00.001-07:00

Hello again! I eluded to another resolution for 2012 the other day, and I’m here today to tell you what it is! How exciting! {snort}

I’m a huge fan of sketches, they take most of the guess work out of card making for me. One of my all time favorites is the monthly Sketch For You To Try over at i{heart}2stamp. So my resolution is to make two cards a month with the sketch. One can be whatever and one has to be a Christmas card. I really enjoyed being on the Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long team last year because I was so well prepared for the holidays – well, that and I got to be on a team with a bunch of other fabulous ladies! I want to be at least minimally prepared for the holidays this year, so I’m forcing my own little challenge! Anywho, yesterday I sat down and colored up two images to use with the sketch. Now all I have to do is make the Christmas one into a card, photograph it and blog it! lol

Say hello to 60’s Willow from Tickled Pink Stamps. Isn't’ she darling?!? I chose some papers from the {new to me} My Minds Eye Lime Twist Life of the Party line for my color scheme. The base is Cool Caribbean – I had to cut up my last full sheet! :( I added a cute little flower tag with ‘eat cake’ to make it more like a birthday card since the inside is stamped with a large HB sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you’re having a great week! :o) lyss

CHALLENGES:

SFYTT: January

Crazy 4 Challenges #120: Kid’s bday (I’d give this to a pre-teen girl…she’d think it was peachy keen, jelly bean!)

Let’s Ink It Up #19: Anything Goes

Tickled Pink Stamps #52: Something new (papers)

Map to your Heart Challenge ~

2012-01-23T05:10:00.001-07:00

Hey there! Have you seen the Map to your Heart challenge on the Moxie Fab blog? I love maps! I don’t know what it is about them, but I just love ‘em! I’m posting a project that I made 8 and a half years ago. I had hoped to re-vamp the project now that I know a bit more about craftiness; however, in my newbie tenacity, I used a hot glue gun to adhere everything down – including the pictures! lol

I was in my college roommate’s wedding in Bend, Oregon in 2003, so the {now} hubby and I decided to make a motorcycle trip of it! We rode over 3500 miles on a Harley through sunshine, wind, driving rain, snow, sleet, you name it, we rode through it! We rode up to Bend then continued out to the Pacific Coast and followed it on down to San Francisco having many an adventure along the way. I used our road atlas to make a shadow box keeper of our trip. {I apologize in advance for the uber bad pictures! It’s hard to photograph a glass fronted frame without glare and equipment}

This is an 11x14 shadow box that I got at a big box store with a 40% off coupon – always the bargain shopper! I used a spray adhesive on the back piece and covered it with sand. I wish I would have matted the pictures, but I didn’t have any craft stash at the time, including any paper. This is even before a digital camera! lol There are shells, driftwood, sea glass and small rocks that we picked up along the way. The starfish is not the one I’m holding in the bottom pic – that was a dead starfish we found and were going to try to dry out but it turned into a very smelly underground parking garage in San Fran and ended up in a trash bin!

I highlighted our travel route on the map and then distressed it with hot tea and coffee, crushing it up to wrinkle it and give it more texture. Unfortunately, the route was kind of lost in the process, but when I tried highlighting it again, it just looked too bold and fluorescent. One of the funny things to note in this pic is the dimension of the photos. Like I said, I didn’t have any crafty supplies at the time, so I used some broken bits of tile we had left over from tiling our kitchen and bathrooms to pop them up! lol So that upper portion is Oregon and here’s California

Again, sorry for the crummy photos, I had to turn the flash off which turned into blur city! This is a project that still hangs in our downstairs bathroom and gets a lot of comments. It was so fun to make. I’m totally intrigued to make a photo mat from some of our Europe vacation maps – I think that’s such a cool idea! I also love those map lampshades – such a fun way to recycle the maps we get and have a little memento around the home.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a super day! ;o) lyss

Lenten Rose ~

2012-01-18T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hello! How are you all doing? Geez, it’s been quiet on this old blog. I can’t seem to get the want/need up to post here. I’ve been creating some things for submission to the Paper Crafts Stamp It! Cards Volume 9 call, so I don’t have much that I can post.
One of my crafty resolutions this year is to focus on submitting and selling my cards more. I have soooooo many cards just hanging around my craft room – it’s ridiculous! So hopefully I’ll be setting up my little acs paper creations store blog pretty soon. It’s been a blog site for ??? how long! It’s time to finally bite the bullet and sell some of these cards {crossing fingers!}. I’ll tell you about another crafty resolution if I actually get a card done for it. What about you? What are your crafty resolutions for 2012?
Ok, so back to the real reason for this post…my mother-in-law has a birthday coming up in a few days. I would like to be a bit more prepared for events in the coming year…we’ll see how that turns out, as it is always a resolution of mine…so I started on this around the 1st of the month! lol Ever since I saw this card on Leslie Miller’s blog, I’ve wanted to re-create it. It’s just so beautiful! With mojo lacking, I went ahead and gave mine a go. This is Lenten Rose by Flourishes. I chose to color with Copics since my fave thing to color is flowers and water coloring with distress inks just isn’t my forte! ;o)

To shadow around the image, I had used E41 and E42. When I went to sponge Antique Linen ink around the edges because the rest of the card was all too white, I found that the colors did not go at all! Aack! So I had to color a thick line of E42 around the entire edge and the cut out edge in the center and then blend it in with E41, as well as soften the edges of everything with the colorless blender. While the crisis was diverted in the long term, I wish it were a bit smoother looking. A sweet little silk bow, some Copic colored pearls and some clear star Sakura sparkle pen in the flowers finish this off! Hope she loves it! Thanks for stopping by ;o) lyss

Challenges:
The Pink Elephant #131: favorite colors (warm shades of red)
Papertake Weekly: Buttons, Bows, Bling & Blooms (all but the buttons)
Let’s Ink It Up #19: Anything Goes

Nothing but Happiness ~

2012-01-08T18:21:00.001-07:00

Hey there, hi there, ho there! I don’t have much time here, but while the hubby is watching the final minutes of the Broncos/Steelers game, I’m going to post this little card I made this afternoon. My friend just got engaged before Christmas. I’m so very happy for her because she went through hell with her last husband (a$$hole!). I thought I’d make her a little card today when I saw this super fun new Mojo Monday sketch. It’s #222 – I can’t believe Julee has been posting sketches for this long! How does she come up with all the ideas and layouts??

I adore this sentiment from Verve’s Blessings set! It’s absolutely perfect for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, you name it! I altered the sketch a bit for a square card and used some fun paper flowers I got at my LSS. So easy with minimal stamping and get this…NO coloring! Aack! lol Hope you are all having a wonderful day!! :) lyss

Fireman Birthday ~

2012-01-05T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hiya friends! How are you all doing? I thought I’d bop in here and share a cute little birthday card.

Zane started preschool two days a week this past fall and has had so much fun! His little personality has changed so much, and he’s made a few friends. That makes me so happy – I was worried since he’s been home with his parents and his grandma that he’d be a bit of a loner. No worries on that though! Z was invited to a birthday party, so I just had to make a card ;o) He had his party at the fire station and then went back to his house for cake and play. I pounced on the fireman theme and pulled out some Pink Cat Studio stamps that I bought when I was pregnant (4+ years ago). This is Dress Up Billy. I just knew that this little set would come in handy for so many things!

I used an old Sketch For You To Try – once I find a good layout, I’ll keep coming back to it! Plus, I was in a time pinch and just needed to knock his card out quickly. The papers are from the My Mind’s Eye collection Lime Twist Out of the Blue. His boots look a little sparkly in the card picture, but they’re not sparkly, just glossy. I covered them with a glaze pen after they were colored. The fireman accessory with this stamp set is an axe, but the mom is totally against weapons and I didn’t want to possibly offend her in any way, so I left it off.

When I ordered from PTI last month, I ordered the Friends til the End dies but received the alphabet dies. I decided to keep it rather than go through the hassle of returning it. Apparently, PTI has been having some customer service issues. Since I had this wonderful die, I just had to personalize the card! lol

All righty! Here’s a couple challenges I’m entering with this one:

The Pink Elephant #129: Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes

Paper Sundaes #101: Something Old (stamp set) & Something New (Alphabet die)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a super day! :) lyss

The Top of the Crop ~

2011-12-30T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hey all! Sorry I’ve been so very absent! I just haven't had any mojo to create anything this month. Every morning I go into my craft room just to look around and feel good for a minute, but I haven't been compelled to sit down and make anything. Hopefully, that will change in the new year! With all that said, I thought I’d follow along with a couple of friends and choose my favorites from this past year of stamping.
Make sure if you choose to follow suit, to link your favorites post with Karin! She’s the hostess with the most-ess of this fun little hop!

Without further ado, here are my favorites of the past year in order of their appearance on the old blog!
JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER X2

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER X2

This past year, I was fortunate enough to work with the iCopic and Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long design teams. Obviously, a bunch of my favorites are from my Christmas challenges! As much as I love being on a design team, I’m looking forward to a 2012 without crafty deadlines – except those I put on myself. I have to find a nice balance between family, friends, work and crafty time. Plus, I want to work with all those stamps I’ve spent $$$ on and haven’t had time to ink up! lol
Thanks for stopping by my little plot of cyberspace! Hope to see you all link up too! I’ll try to not be such a stranger around here! Happy New Year! May 2012 bring you all health, happiness and a lot of luck! ;o) lyss

Amber Ink’s 2nd Annual Holiday Hop ~

2011-12-05T08:58:00.001-07:00

ETA: Winner has been chosen. Congrats to #1: Tanny P!

Hey there, hi there, ho there!!
Welcome to our second annual Amber Ink Holiday blog hop.
This year our alumni are tapping in to their inner elves for some fun and frolic.
We've made our list but you'll probably want to check it twice.
Or check it thrice. We just don't know who'll be naughty or nice.
There are 23 commenting spots to be precise
And 23 prizes to help entice.
So see those badges down below?
Roll the dice. Let elf magic flow…
Hop on Monday
Hop on Tuesday
Prizes on Wednesday
One Grand Prize winner will receive an Elf of the Shelf gift set, so be sure to visit every single elfin spot. The final list will be sent to Santa, so remember… the only person you are really competing with is your elf.
Thanks for coming. Now hop on!!!
I have the sassy little Elf on the Shelf Presents for you today! I won’t bore you with the details since there are a ton of wonderful goodies for you to look at. Paper Sundaes provided a jump off point with their Sundae Bar challenge: I used red and die cuts. The Pink Elephant challenge #128 calls for snowflakes and sparkle. There's a little sparkle on the brim of this little elf's hat. I also used the December Sketch for You to Try – perfect since he’s presenting that sweet little sentiment tab wishing the recipient sweet holiday wishes! Aack! I just noticed that it’s crooked! Must have been the few glasses of wine I had at the Christmas party before assembling this...I’ll have to fix that later {blush}
Here’s the lovely list for you to hop around to! Have fun and don't forget to comment. If you don’t have a blog, leave your email in your comment so we have a way to contact you and get you your prize!
One more thing! Some of you may know that I was one of the lucky winners in the World Card Making Day contest. Well, two of the three boxes of prizes came last week…Oh.My.Word! I have waaaaayyyyy too many supplies now, so keep on the lookout here for a blog candy post! I’ll be giving some things away and sharing the wealth because there is no way I can use all these goodies! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have fun on the hop! Happy Holidays, friends! :o) lyss

Also ETA: the snowflake buttons are little flat backed snowflake embellishments I found in the holiday craft section at Hobby Lobby last year. I just stuck them to a red button with a glue dot. Nothing too fancy, but they seem to be a crowd pleaser :o)

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop ~

2011-11-25T10:56:00.001-07:00

Hi there friends! I decided to bop in here and play along with PTI’s monthly blog hop since I got my goodies on Monday, and I just couldn’t wait to play with them!

PTI has been inspiring us with photos for the past couple of hops. I saw it yesterday morning and took a very bad pic with my phone to think on it during the pie making of the day. Not until we were driving home from my brother's house at 9pm last night did I come up with my idea. Then I realized that I only had Friday morning to complete it! Aack! Here’s the beautiful inspiration photo…

As I already said, I quickly looked at the photo and went on my merry way to peel pounds of apples. So I remembered the pot on the stairs to have poinsettias in it. Whoops! I just now realized my mistake, but there’s no more time. So, we’ll just say that the inspiration is the red, white and green! Ha!

I just had to use the new Quatrefoil Cover Plate – LOVE! I stamped and colored out multiple layers of the Year of Flowers: Poinsettia in the Pure Poppy and Pinefeather Copic trios. The sentiment is from Signature Christmas – one of my all time faves! I added a little score line above and below the embossed sentiment, but I didn’t photograph it very well. Here’s a close up of the dimension on the flower. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have fun on the hop!! lyss

CSAYL: Kenny K Inspiration ~

2011-11-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hey there, CSAYL friends! I can hardly believe it, but we’ve arrived at the final Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long challenge of 2011! I really wanted to get all of my projects and cards together for one shot for you but ran out of time this morning…perhaps I’ll update this post later! That would be fun to see and would help me round everything up for the holiday craziness ahead lol

Check out this gorgeous inspiration photo! We want you to pick whatever speaks to you from it and make a card, layout or whatever floats your boat! We are sponsored this week by Kenny K digi stamps. Such a wonderful and fun line! Last time we were sponsored by Kenny K, I chose one of the more va-va-voom characters, Mistletoe. For this time, I tamed it down with the new Boy Gift. Such a great image because it really doesn’t have to be used just for Christmas! Gotta love a little versatility! {wink}

I chose the colors from the photo as inspiration – sagey green, pine needle green, white and silver. The dots and bow of the present are colored with a silver AtYou Spica pen. I actually have a funny little story about this card…my printer has been telling me for the last 3 months that it needs ink. Well, it’s always printed out a perfect picture or image, so the ink cartridges have been set on the back burner. Not this time! Some of the lines weren’t even visible! And of course, I left making this card to the very last minute. I’ve been wanting to try the *no lines* coloring technique, but I didn’t want to be forced into it! lol I ended up coloring the image and going over every line with a multiliner. Ha! The printer couldn’t fool this Queen of Procrastination!!

Bop on over to the Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long blog to catch up on all the rules and prizes. Thanks so much for stopping by! I’m looking forward to a little crafting down time and only creating when I feel like it, so this blog may be quiet for a bit. We’ll see…you never know when creativity and the need to create will strike! Have a super weekend, friends! lyss

Missing Mojo ~

2011-11-13T18:00:00.001-07:00

Hey there! It’s been a little quiet over here as I cannot seem to find my mojo. I have so many ideas in my head, but even when I carve out enough time to play in my crafty space, I just can’t seem to make anything. It’s frustrating! I kind of feel like walking away from it all for a little while. ??? Don’t know what’s up with that!

With that said, I forced myself to make a card today. I also forced myself to pick up my Copics…I haven’t touched them in a couple weeks! I chose this weeks Mojo Monday sketch – #214. I love the Mojo Monday sketches! Hell, I just love sketches period.

I also made myself use some paper that I had to order – PTI’s Funky Town. That gorgeous flower is from Verve’s One Person set and the sentiment is from Thankful Blossoms {an oldie but a goodie!} I love the boldness of the font. It’s stamped in Versafine Onyx and clear embossed then sponged with Worn Lipstick distress ink. Here’s a little close up of the flower.

It’s embossed as well and fussy cut. The interesting thing is that the Copic ink kind of dissolves the embossing, so the colors blended strangely…almost like coloring with melted crayons. Oh well! I was too lazy to do it again! lol

Thanks so much for stopping by! We stopped and got a couple bushels of fire roasted green chilies, so I need to go de-seed and peel them before popping them in the freezer. Have a great rest of your weekend! lyss

Shutterfly winners & a Vintage Angel ~

2011-11-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Sorry, I forgot to post the winners of my Shutterfly giveaway. I didn't have much response, so out of the 4 commenters, the winners (picked via random.org) are numbers 3, 2 and 4. That's Savannah O'Gwynn, Amanda Profumo and Julie E! Congratulations, ladies! Email me for your code for 25 free holiday cards from Shutterfly!

Here's a card I made for iCopic sometime back. Hope you enjoy and have a fabulous week!

I have a card today that was inspired by a text sent from a stampy friend the other day. She asked if you could color images stamped with other Memento inks besides Tuxedo Black, specifically Rich Cocoa. Well, I was pretty sure that you could but I just had to try it out myself! Plus, I just got my iCopic order the other day and had purchased E42 just to be able to do a sepia angel.

Coloring an image in sepia tones is exactly like coloring in black and white. I chose the lighter colors for her skin tones and halo (E41, E42 & E43) shading first with the darker colors and blending out with the lighter colors. The 0 Colorless Blender was used to make it all come together without too harsh of lines. Her dress and hair are done with the darker tones (E43, E44 & E49). This was a little harder because there is such a gap between the 44 and 49, but I like the results all the same. Her wings and ruffle of her dress have just a hint of E41. As a last touch, I added some sparkle with a clear glitter pen on her wings and halo.

After cutting her out with a large plain nestabilitie die, I used a 0.03 Copic Multiliner to trace the inner circle leaving just a slight gap to add a few black pearls. These sepia tones really match well with kraft paper, which I love! This paper is from a retired Stampin' Up! set from eons ago. This little ditty is finished off with some natural twine, a black button and a couple larger pearls framing the sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please let me know if you have any questions!! Have a great weekend!! :o) lyss

Copics {0 Colorless Blender, E41, E42, E43, E44, E49} Edited to Add: I forgot to mention this...in case it isn't obvious, the angel is stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and is from The Greeting Farm's Naughty or Nice set.

CSAYL: It’s My Fave ~

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

You all know how much I adore sketches – they take all the hard work out of a card for me! One of our final challenges with Christmas Stampin All Year Long is to use our favorite sketch challenge! We are sponsored by the uber duber cute Pink Cat Studios Stamps. One lucky winner will get their choice of 5 digi stamps!One of my all time favorite sketch challenges is the Sketch For You to Try {SFYTT} from Jen del Muro at i{heart}2stamp. I used the sketch for the month of October on this one. It’s new starting tomorrow, but you have a little time to still get your sample in. {wink} I had a total mishap happen with this card. I set a rectangle nestie up around my already colored image and taped it down (I used painter’s tape). I must’ve bumped it before I cranked it through the ‘bug (and not taped it down enough) because it was all scatttywompus when I pulled up the plate. Ugh…I *hate* when that happens! I decided to cut him out and pop him up on some patterned paper that was supposed to be the back mat instead. The base is a smoky gray – the perfect compliment to this retired Stampin’ Up paper.

That’s all I’ve got for you today! I hope you get to play along with our current challenge and get another Christmas card done. If you don’t think you’ll have time to make your own cards this year, bop down to this post for a chance at some picture holiday cards from Shutterfly! There aren’t many comments, so you’ll have a pretty good chance at winning one of three prizes!! lol Have a great start to your weekend!! ;o) lyss

Not ETM ~

2011-11-03T20:48:00.001-06:00

I don’t know about you, but one crafter I watch consistently, besides all of my buddies (of course!), is Debbie Olson. She has been doing a series of cards that are ETM – Easy to Mail. This card is not one of those! lol
I just had to bop in here quickly tonight to share a card that has been bouncing around my brain since last Saturday. I’ve been coveting this Waltzingmouse Stamps set since it’s release last year. I just haven’t wanted to pay the shipping *across the pond*! I finally decided to bite the bullet and order…I found out I had plenty of likes…enough for free shipping! Gotta love that! This is the Festive Foliage set. Funny thing about me is that I’m very much Rock ‘n’ Roll, but my Christmas decorating style, and card style, is very much Country (or rustic). lol I don’t know what you’d call it really…maybe botanical? All I know is that I love rustic cream cardstock, a rich cranberry red, a deep evergreen and a bold brown for all my holiday cards. Oh, and if I can add some rusted jingle bells into the mix, I’m super happy!
Anyhooooo, I used the current Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge, #71. It’s stamped in Ranger Distress Pine Needles (how apropos!) and Walnut Stain and sponged with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain. I'm also editing this to add it to the ABC DT Challenge - Christmas Cards! I've been making lots of those lately, so you'll probably be seeing this challenge linked a few more times. ;o)
Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be back in the morning with one of the last challenges of Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long! ;o) lyss

World Card Making Day ~

2011-11-02T16:13:00.001-06:00

**Go to this post for a chance to win 1 of 3 sets of Shutterfly Holiday Greetings for you to customize this holiday season!**
Hello, hello! I’m not sure if you all have heard the news, but you should check out this post on the Paper Crafts Connection blog. I’m sure that I’ve complained about this before, but I work in an old mall. Meaning, I seldom get reliable cell phone service, don’t have a computer, nor do I have internet to surf or even check. That being said, I worked a long day on Monday and was unable to check my email or facebook. As soon as I set foot in the parking lot, my phone started going off with text messages and facebook alerts. Turns out a bunch of friends, old and new, wanted to congratulate me! Yay!!
I’m over the moon excited and so honored that one of the two cards I submitted for the WCMD contest was chosen. Humbled, honored and stupefied! lol I thought I’d grace this post with my reject ;o)

This is a simple little 4x4 number. I cut the large heart from red leather and the two smaller from white felt. The little square buttons has rounded corners, so I rounded the corners of the card too. Funny how we crafters pay attention to little details like that, isn’t it? The sentiment is from My Favorite Things. I needed to pull in just a bit more black, so I took the button off and tied a bow with black embroidery floss. A very simple card that ended up taking way longer than I intended. ha ha! That’s how it always goes for me!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Thanks to all of my fantabulous friends for all of the emails, texts, facebook messages, etc – you all made my day that much more special!! :o) lyss

Shutterfly Holiday Cards and a giveaway! ~

2011-10-30T19:12:00.001-06:00

Some of you may have been around last year to remember when I did this post about holiday cards from Shutterfly. Well, the time of year has come again to make my Christmas card list (and check it twice!) lol Being a crafter, I feel the need to make everyone a hand made card. But…then I hem and haw about who will appreciate what more and who will think it’s cute and then throw it away. :o) Welcome Shutterfly to the rescue!!

Shutterfly has some amazing designs for every style out there. I seem to vacillate between styles depending on my mood – we all do, I guess. I really like the clean lines of the Berry Merry Frame card and the With Love card is still a favorite – it’s what I used last year.

I adore doing collage cards while the kids are still growing and changing so much. This Keep Believing collage card is super cute! Oh and I go nutty for snowmen, so this Snowman Memories may be a contender for this year! Oh no! I think I just found the card I want to do, simple and classic – Classic Mistletoe Frame. See what I mean? So many great styles! Aack! How will I ever choose?!?
I always order the flat postcard style; that way I can slip one in with the cards I’ve already made. Plus, if I run out of time to make cards for people, I can easily mail those I have on hand without having to worry about writing a personal sentiment inside a folded card. Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right? ;o) Shutterfly also makes these fantastic photo books – almost like scrapbooking without having to ponder how to put all the pages together. Such a great gift for the grandparents that live far away!
Now for the fun part! I’ll be giving away 3 sets of 25 holiday cards to random commenters. You have until next Saturday, November 5, at midnight mountain time to comment. I’ll update with a post and the winners sometime on Sunday! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a super week! :o) lyss

Boo and a farewell ~

2011-10-28T03:11:00.000-06:00

Hiya friends! Hope you all are having a wonderful and warm week! We were hit with a very wet snowstorm on Tuesday/Wednesday that tore through the trees around my area like a tornado. So sad! As I’m typing this up on Thursday night, I’ve just heard from my hubby that our power is back on!! Yay! We won’t have to endure another night in the house without heat!! With that being said, I apologize for the lighting of the photos…no power means no light box! Oh, the horror!! lol This also means that I was unable to work on the Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long challenge because I needed my computer and my Cricut. Never fear – I’ll be back!

I wanted to make a fun little Halloween card for you today. I chose to work the sassy little devil from The Greeting Farm’s Naughty or Nice set. Since the challenge on the iCopic blog this week is orange and black, I thought I’d do a little doodling and draw her sitting in a bed of flames. I mean, really, isn’t a devil supposed to be in flames?!? Truth be told, my husband drew the flames for me – he’s the artist in the family, I just like to color! lol

He drew them lightly with a pencil first and then outlined them with a 0.3mm Copic multiliner. I used the multiliner specifically because I didn’t want the black lines to bleed at all. Her purple outfit is supposed to be a little gauzy and see through, so I colored and shaded her skin tone first and then went over it with BV02. On the flames I used an embarrassing number of markers and then went back and added some shine and glitter with Lemon and Orange AtYou Spica pens. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture the shimmer in any pics I took – sorry! You’ll just have to use your imagination. ;o) The sketch is the current Mojo Monday – #212 so fun!

Here’s a little close up along with the list of Copics:

BV02, BV08, BV13, BV29, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, E00, E02, E11, R20, R24, R29, R59, YR12, YR18, Y11

Now for a little extra news…I’m sorry and saddened to say that I need to end my term on the design team with iCopic. I’ve had so much fun and pushed myself to try things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Unfortunately, I feel that my time is just being stretched too thin with a new promotion at work, family and my want/obsessive need to always give you all my best. I don’t feel that I have been doing that, so I had to make the decision to cut something. I kind of like my family ;o) and we have to put food on the table {gasp!}, so I’m refocusing my energy and opening the door for someone new and fabulous to work with this amazing company and the wonderful artists on the design team. It’s been so great to get the encouraging comments and sweet thoughts from all of you! Thank you! And Thank You, iCopic, for allowing me to be a part of your team for this time! Farewell friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by! ;o) lyss

CSAYL: Sparkles ~

2011-10-21T04:25:00.000-06:00

Hi there Chrsitmas Stampin’ All Year Long friends! Bopping in here with the current challenge this week sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps. You can bop on over to the blog here for all the fun details.

Our challenge this week is to make something super sparkle-y!! I may have gone overboard {blush}. I chose to use the Ava and Deacon Christmas.

I printed it out twice so I could pop Deacon up over all that glitter. The letters are colored flat and then totally covered in purple and turquoise fine glitters. The color combo is PTI Royal Velvet and Hawaiian Shores – love!!

Here’s a close up of the itty bitty bit of dimension

Sorry so short today! Make sure you head over to my sidebar and check out all of the creations made by my fellow CSAYL DT! Have a super weekend! :) lyss

Happy Feet Santa ~

2011-10-19T05:13:00.001-06:00

Hello friends! Here's my iCopic post from last Friday. Hope you all are having a fantastical week! :o) lyss

Hello! So glad it’s Friday…well, kind of…I’m working a 12 hour shift today and have oodles of work to do! Oh well! At least I get to color cards in my spare time ;o) I’ve got a new little guy to share with you today that I’ve dangled in front of you before. I know I’ve mentioned how much I am in love with the Wild Rose Studio line of stamps…well, now I have the new Pickle the Penguin character to show you!! This is Pickle with Sledge – such a great stamp for your holiday collection!

I colored him up to follow along with the pattern paper – just trying to follow my own suggestions {wink!}. The presents are colored with Copics while the bows are made super sparkalay with AtYou Spica pens. I used a little Flower Soft and glitter for the snow at his *happy* feet and a little white flock and glitter for his hat and scarf trim. The card base and mats are a smokey gray color to tie in with his coloring. So fun to put it all together!
Last, but not least!, the super sweet sentiment is from SP & Company, Bold Sentiments II. Not your typical Santa but a giving little penguin nonetheless! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you have a super inky weekend!!

COPICS ~ BG15, BG23, BG49, C5, C7, E29, E57, R24, R29, W3, W5, W7, YG17, YG23, YG25, YR04, YR12, YR24, YR30, YR31

Easy Canvas Prints ~

2011-10-17T04:22:00.000-06:00

Hey all! I have a different sort of post for you today…I was recently asked to review a canvas from the company Easy Canvas Prints. While on vacation, I made the family take pictures at one of the photo studios in town – in the Old West style. So fun! We got *swindled* into buying the entire CD of photos instead of just one or two prints at the shop. Let me tell you, I am so glad I did! Upon return, I had the perfect photo to turn into a canvas.

To start the entire process, I chose a canvas size – they come in a variety beginning at 8x10 and continuing on, even to the choose your own option. I didn’t want it to be too domineering, so I stuck with the 8x10 option. Then you upload your photo – choose a higher resolution to not lose too much definition. The third step is to choose how the borders of your photo will appear. (I chose a mirror image.) Finally, you are able to add edits if you wish. I had already changed my to sepia tone along with some other edits; however, you can change the color/exposure of your photo for a minimal fee.

Here we are in all our Tombstone-like glory! lol After receiving our canvas, my husband mentioned how cool it would look inside a weathered wood frame. Off I ran to Hobby Lobby and picked one up. Love it - the perfect touch! Turns out that I didn’t need to choose a border or wrap around on the canvas. Oh well, now it’s good to go without a frame too. Note – this is not where our photo resides, but I couldn’t get a good photo of it anywhere, so this is the boring wall it ended up on! lol

With the holidays well on their way, I can see ordering a couple of these or some of the other pics from our photo shoot for the grandparents. Easy Canvas Prints makes it super easy right now too! 25% off all size prints and free standard shipping! In the future for the smaller canvas sizes, I will stick to pictures with less detail. I can only imagine some of the macro floral photos that I adore in this type of print! {swoon!}

Thank you Easy Canvas Prints for asking me to review your phenomenal product! The shipping was super quick, packed very well and the quality is fantabulous!! Thanks so much for bopping on by!! :) lyss

CSAYL: Gettin' Spotty with Paper Makeup Stamps

2011-10-13T23:58:00.000-06:00

Hola mis amigos! Como estas? Sorry, guess I’m feeling like speaking a little Spanish this evening as I type this up! lol It’s time for another challenge from Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long.

This week we are sponsored by Paper Makeup Stamps! Such a wonderful company - cute, whimsical stamps in a variety of ‘flavors’! Our challenge this week is to get ‘spotty’ – use polka dots somewhere on your creation! The winner of this challenge will get a $15 gift certificate to the PMS store!

I chose to work with Nole. I got him last year as a digi, but he is now available in rubber – so worth the rubber choice though! He totally reminds me of myself when I get out the lights and am *not* really feeling that Christmas spirit anymore! lol

I spotted him up with the darker of the Copics to match the paper I chose. I’m not sure I love the spots, but they’ll do for now. He’s matted on some label nesties that I had cut and stamped for cards last year and never used. Gotta love using those scraps!

The lights are dotted with glossy accents. I lightly colored with a colored pencil to show the shine from the lights…and now have realized that I forgot to blend that pencil! Whoops! Guess I’ll have to do that before I send it off! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a supercalifragilisticexpialidotious type of weekend!! Don’t forget to stop by the DT’s blogs (links are in my sidebar) for some amazing inspiration!! ~lyss

Forest Critter Party~

2011-10-07T09:23:00.000-06:00

Hiya friends! Bopping in here with my iCopic post this week. I didn’t have time to play along with the CSAYL challenge this week, but you should take a gander at all their lovely creations and play along if you can!

TGIF! Actually, I can’t believe it’s Friday already! These weeks seem to be flying by lately! Before you know it, it’ll be Christmas! Eek…that’s even scarier than Halloween! lol

Today I have a cute critter scene I created for you using the masking technique. Masking allows multiple images to be stamped without overlapping each other. This allows you to create scenes and to create the illusion of depth in your image, as well as combine several stamps together.

I used the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest clear stamp set. I simply placed all the large image stamps from the set on one acrylic block and stamped them straight onto a thin masking tape. iCopic carries the Mask It medium tack paper that works for this technique and for airbrushing, as well. Each image is then fussy cut out and stored straight on the stamp sheet for future use. Easy peasy! The one thing you need to think about when creating your scene, is what image/s you want in your foreground and which will be placed in the background. Stamp your foreground images first, place your carefully cut out mask over them and stamp the background – see? Easy!

I used some October Afternoon Campfire papers, Rustic Cream button twine and Pacific Point paper. The scene was colored with Copics – BV25, BG99, E08, E19, E41, E57, E59, G24, G28, R02, R22, R24, R29, W3, W5, W7. The edges of the scene were sponged with Ranger distress Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage inks using the ink blending tool and foams.

It all looked a little bare and I couldn’t figure out a sentiment, so I decided to pop a little banner on there. Kind of reminds me of Bambi for some reason lol. The banner and birds are from Lawn Fawn’s Bannerific set. The sentiment is one from my stash.

Here’s a close up of the coloring.

Hope you all find a little time to play along with our challenge this week – All about Fall! The creations I’ve seen so far have been fabulous!! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fizzy Moon Christmas ~

2011-10-03T01:57:00.000-06:00

Hi there friends! I'm bringing you a little post from iCopic again. This one is from way back at the beginning of September! I've been busy this past week with catching up from vacation, birthday parties, family and friends in town, plus all the work stuff. Right now I'm taking a break from organizing at cleaning my crafty space. We have guests and they don't want to sleep on top of paper pads! lol Hope you had a fabulous weekend! Thanks for stopping by!! ;o) lyss

TGIF! Actually, I wish it were Tuesday again because that would mean I would be going camping with my little family. We had such a good time! I love being in the wilderness! Hmmm, that brings a cute little stamp set from Lawn Fawn to mind…perhaps I’ll have to scrap a little page! So many projects, so little crafty time! lol

Anywho, I’m here today with a *new-to-me* little cutie from Fizzy Moon. This darling little set is called Little Messages. The sweet bear is just peaking around a very large sign that you are able to customize with all the messages included in the set – gotta love that! I tried something new on this card. I cut the rectangle with a die and sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Antique Linen ink before stamping the bear. I only had a scrap of paper and wanted to make sure that he came out level and straight. Since these stamps are clear photopolymer, I was able to line him up perfectly after all the stuff I normally do at the very end! I also didn’t have to worry that the distress ink would smear or smudge any of my Copic coloring…this may be a technique I use in the future more often! The sentiment really pops because it is embossed. I always use Versafine Onyx Black ink with clear detail embossing powder for my sentiments. They just come out so crisp and nice!

The holly paper is from the First Edition Festive Treats 6x6 paper pack. Because of the holly theme, I created a bit of a holly embellishment using some red jingle bells and a twiggy punch. The bells are tied into a little cluster using the Cherry Divine Baker’s Twine. I used the twine to tie a little bow through a red button as well. You can’t tell on this image really, but the bear has one great big button on his belly. CUTE! A few more details to finish him off – his paws are stamped, colored and up on dimensional foam tape, his hat trim and pom are covered in white flock and the ground is covered in polar white flower soft.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you have a super fab weekend, your fingers get all inky and your Copic tips get dry!

COPICS {E25, E29, E37, R29, R59, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9}

CSAYL: Resist the Temptation ~

2011-09-30T04:00:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I can't believe another week has passed us by already! With birthdays and inventories and coming back from vacation, I just don't feel like I'm back on track yet. Who knows if I ever will? LOL
It's time for another challenge with Christmas Stampin All Year Long and what a doozy we have for you today! Brace yourself...NO STAMPING!! Say what?!?! Create a Christmas card or gift box or whatever, but you CANNOT stamp!

Our sponsor this week is Perfect Presentation and one random person will win a template of their choice! As I've said before, I love the templates on this site. It's amazing to be able to create something beautiful so effortlessly. The files come with the PDF (if you buy for an electronic cutter) and with instructions and dimensions for matting, if not cut-able matting. So easy!
I chose to work with my absolute favorite, Tall Gable. It's just so versatile and easy to decorate...not to mention, big enough to put a nice little gift in!

The lack of stamping was the ultimate hardship for me! I mean, really, every.single.idea I had made me want to stamp some sort of background or something! Finally, I borrowed a Christmas Cricut cartridge from a buddy and decided on a snowman. I really wanted to add some stamped snowflakes and keep it simple! lol

The vellum snowdrift was cut out by hand, his scarf was striped with Copics, and the sign is from the Tiny Tags set from PTI with the tag part snipped off. I added a coal smile and eyes with a black glaze pen and his little buttons are made from black rhinestones. Pretty simple! Hope you play along with us this week! :o) lyss

P.S. I just realized that I stamped the sentiment on the sign! Ha, Ha, Ha! Guess you can take a girl out of the trailer park but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl! Errrr, I mean stamping cave... ;o)

Winter Friend ~

2011-09-26T05:04:00.000-06:00

Good Monday morning! Just popping in with my iCopic post from Friday! Hope you all had a marvelous weekend!
I have a wonderful new stamp from the Gorjuss line to share with you today. Her name is Winter Friend.

I am quickly learning that my card making process goes much faster if I pick out my papers first – it just helps to get the whole ball rolling! I paper pieced her dress with a beautiful gray paper from the Authentique Blissful line. The sweet stars and sash on her dress are colored over with a Silver AtYou Spica pen - every girl needs a little sparkle! Since I didn’t want to have a weird fussy cut around her hair, I stamped her head again on a scrap of the vintage cream cardstock and fussy cut the hair out. Her polar bear friend is lightly colored with R02 (for the ears) and YR30 and YR31 for his fur. They're just the right shades of yellow to color this guy with!

I wanted to use the oyster Divine Twine with all these wonderful grays, so I tied it into the image by coloring her tights and his collar to match. To finish the image off, I sponged around the edges with Ranger Distress Antique Linen and added a few black rhinestones. Thanks so much for stopping by today!

COPICS: C5, C7, C9, E00, E02, E11, R02, R20, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, YR30, YR31

CSAYL: Clean and Simple with Karber ~

2011-09-23T07:24:00.003-06:00

Hi! I’m back with another challenge for Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long!

This week we are sponsored by Karber Digital Images. One random participant will win 2 digi stamps of their choice! Our challenge is to make a clean and simple card – just what we all need to mass produce those cards we, as crafters, feel like we have to make!

The DT was given this adorable reindeer image, Rudolph, to work with. When I first saw him, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that he was singing. So I decided to make a little choir of sorts by lining him up. I {amazingly!} didn’t go crazy with my Copics – they were bleeding on this paper more than I wanted them to. Plus, it fills in with the challenge KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) LOL For a little extra umph, I added Glossy Accents over Rudolph’s nose, Ranger Black enamel accents for the other two reindeer noses, added white flock to their hat trims and heat embossed the sentiment (from SP & Company stamps – Big and Bold II).
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have a fabulous weekend! :o) lyss

Blue Poppies ~

2011-09-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Hi there, friends! I'm sad to say that this is my last day of my two week vacation. It's back to the grind for me tomorrow and I am not at all excited! lol I stopped into my craft room this morning to begin cleaning and ended up finding a little mojo! Yahoo! I pulled out a stamp set that I had to have when I saw my friend Donna make this card. I haven't had the time, so the set has sat, sadly, uninked for a couple of months. Today was the day to give it a go! I picked my sketch - September's Sketch For You To Try - and my papers - My Mind's Eye Hattie and PTI Distressed Dots - and went to *work* ;o)

Every paper pack I open seems to have more of an off white rather than true white tone, so I stamped the poppies on Vintage Cream. I don't know that I've ever seen blue poppies before, but that's what went with the papers! lol I accidentally cut the left poppy petal out, so I stamped it again and popped just one petal up on a super thin dimensional. The butterfly is poking out of the circle on the opposite side, stamped and colored again (obviously {eye roll}) and just the body is glued down.

I didn't go as literal with the sketch on this go round. I went with a larger 5x5" card and didn't round the corners of the panels. I also went with a double ended banner that is scored and folded around the sentiment. One last little butterfly brings in a little more of the warm golden yellow to the card.

I'm hoping I don't need this card anytime soon, but it'll be a good one to have in my stash. It's always so hard to create the perfect sympathy card right when you need it. Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a super rest of your Sunday and that your week gets off to a great start! :o) lyss

CHALLENGES:
i{heart}2stamp: September SFYTT
Papertake Weekly: Things with Wings
Cute Card Thursday: #182 Anything Goes

COPICS: BG70, BG72, BG75, BG78, C1, C3, YG93, YG95, YR24, Y21, Y32, 110 Special Black, 0.3 Black Multiliner

CSAYL: Bugaboo Inspiration ~

2011-09-16T09:47:00.000-06:00

Good Morning! So sorry that this post is late! We've been driving back from Branson, Missouri and I think I lost track of the days. lol All I can say is that my child is amazing! Over 10 hours in the car yesterday alone and he only asked, "Are we there yet?" once! I'm happy to be home because there truly is no place like home! ;o) Anyway, on to the post for today!

It's Friday, which means another challenge with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long! This week we have a fabulous new sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps! Such darling little digis and one super thing about this company is they give away a free digi stamp every Friday, so you can see how much you love them! With this challenge, we'll have two winners! One will win a guest spot to play along with CSAYL in October and the second will win a $21 gift certificate to the Bugaboo site!

The challenge this week is to use this inspiration photo to make a Christmas creation. It's just so pretty with the white mailbox and winter foliage. If I had a mailbox, I'd definitely decorate it up like this for the holiday season. I would think it would make the mailman happy and festive, even if he were only delivering bills! lol

I chose to work with Cupcake Mistletoe for this challenge. I went with a clean and simple design pulling on all that white space and the pops of color. The image is printed on white paper twice and also right on top of some patterned paper as well. Anytime I use a cupcake image now, I use liquid pearls as the icing. I knew the holly/mistletoe would get lost in the icing, so I colored them up and fussy cut them out. Each set of leaves and berries is up on a different size of dimensional foam tape. Pretty simple...just lots of fussy cutting and drying time! The sentiment is from a retired CC Designs stamp set and is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and clear embossed.
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you'll play along and get a couple of your Christmas cards done! :o) lyss

Lawn Fawn Magnets ~

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hey all! Since I'm on vacation, I thought I'd bop in here with an iCopic post from a while back that I've never posted here! Thanks for stopping by!
The iCopic Weekly Challenge #40 is Anything But a Card! I was inspired by this challenge to make a little game set for my son. We'll be taking a road trip later this summer to go visit my in-laws in Missouri, so I'll need some things to pass the time with my little guy. I have some magnet sheets in my stash that I use for various things - mainly for storage cards for my die cuts. The back of the magnet sheet is white paper... light bulb moment! I've seen cookie sheet calendars in the past, but I thought maybe I could make my son a set of magnets to play with in the car!
I chose to use the adorable Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest clear acrylic set. I took all of the image stamps in the set and put them on my largest stamping block. Instead of wasting my nice Copic paper, I stamped directly on the back of the magnet sheet and colored everything up with my markers.

Once they were all colored up and cut out, I rimmed the edges with a black marker to finish them off! Easy! Now we can make up funny little stories with them while we're driving through corn fields as far as the eye can see! lol
Have a super weekend!! :o) lyss
Copics {110 Special Black, B21, B24,BG99, BV25, C1, E09, E17, E23, E25, E29, E43, E71, E74, E81, E87, G29, R14, R17, R20, R37, YG06, YG09, YR07, YR30, YR31, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9}

CSAYL: Teacher's Pet ~

2011-09-10T04:19:00.000-06:00

Hi there! Long time, no post! Life has been busy here getting ready for vacation, having a stellar week at work, a motorcycle rally...the list goes on and on! It's time for another challenge with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long! This week we've been challenged to make a card for a teacher. The winner of this week's challenge will win a Guest Designer spot with us!
I had such a hard time with this challenge! Since my little guy just started pre-school, I don't own any school related stamps. I wracked my brain for a week until I was down to the nitty gritty! I finally dug through my stash of already colored images and found this little cutie from Whiff of Joy - Henry with Christmas Bauble. Henry always makes me think of Zane, so it worked out perfectly! It's like he's holding this up for someone...maybe his teacher? Yes, it's a stretch! I just couldn't come up with anything!!

Henry is colored up with Copics to match up with some retired Stampin' Up! dp. He's sitting on a bed of polar white Flower Soft and glitter, the mistletoe berries are dotted with white opal liquid pearls (been using those a lot lately!), his hat has some white flock on the trim and pom and some stardust Stickles adorn the snowflake of the ornament.

When I ran him through the bug with the square nestie to emboss it, it crinkled up at the top (I think I've been going against the rules and running the dies through incorrectly...I've since changed my ways and don't have the crinkle problem). To cover the most prominent crinkle, I added a little felt snowflake and button combo (again from SU).

The sentiment is from the Holly Jolly set by Verve. It's stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink - the only ink I use for sentiments. I love the the scripty font! I'll leave you with a little close up of this sweet mouse...don't forget to visit all of the lovely design team's blogs to see the fabulous creations they've made! Then get to creating - Christmas is oh.so.much closer than you think!! Thanks so much for stopping by!! ;o) lyss

September SFYTT ~

2011-09-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

Hiya friends!! I’m so very ecstatic to tell you that I’ve been selected by the Jen del Muro of i{heart}2stamp to be the guest designer for September’s Sketch For You To Try!! My very first card related post on this blog was using a SFYTT…no, please don’t go back and look! lol As you all are well aware, I love me a good sketch. ;-) The sponsor for this months’ sketch is Skipping Stones Designs. Without further ado, here is the fabulous sketch for September

I chose to make a birthday card for a little man with his special day coming up in a few weeks. My two best friends and I were all pregnant at the same time, and we all had boys. Carter is 3 days older than Zane (my guy) and Logan is 3 weeks younger than Zane. My birthday is this month and Carter’s mom’s birthday is about a week before mine - I need lots of birthday cards this month! lol I pulled out a rubber stamp set from Pink Cat Studio that I just had to have when Z was just a baby. This is Billy with a little frog on his head – oh.so.boy!

I went super literal with the sketch. The sky is sponged in with Tumbled Glass distress ink and the grass is flicked in with Copics. The papers are My Minds Eye Lime Twist Fly a Kite (I think) matted with Wild Wasabi. The sentiment tag is flanked with a star, button and embroidery floss combo.

That cute little sentiment is from a retired CC Designs rubber set. I’d have used the *hoppy birthday* that came with the little frog man, but it is curved and doesn’t work with the sketch so well.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I’ve posted the rules of SFYTT below. Hope you have a wonderful {and safe!} holiday weekend!! lyss

1. The SKETCH FOR YOU TO TRY {SFYTT} will be posted on the first Saturday of each month on www.iheart2stamp.com at 8am EST and will stay open to participants until the last day of the month, unless otherwise noted.
2. This is for fun! Interpret the sketch as you wish and embellish as desired. There are no vendor restrictions, but we would love to see you use the sponsor’s stamps!
3. Each month we will have a Designer of the Month that will be chosen from past month’s participants.
4. Come and play with us on each and every sketch! On Christmas Day 2011 a prize package worth over $200 will be given away to one very lucky and loyal SFYTT stamper that participates in EVERY sketch for the year.
5. To be eligible for the prize package, you must complete ALL of the sketches by each of the deadlines AND link your creation to the link system on that month’s sketch post (the first Saturday of the month). Everyone except for SFYTT Sisters are eligible for the prize package, including Designer of the Month and international players.
6. When posting your sketch creation on your blog, please post the sketch and link back to the sketch post on www.iheart2stamp.com. When posting to online galleries, please use the keyword “SFYTT.”

Through the porthole ~

2011-09-02T02:30:00.000-06:00

TGIF!! Hiya friends! Here’s my post for iCopic this week! It’s a little interpretation of the current iCopic challenge – to color water, something under water, etc. I’m not brave enough to attempt to color raindrops or reflections in water, so I decided to color something that would be found underwater – a mermaid! And who better to color than The Greeting Farm’s Syren?! She’s just so hot! I wanted to do something a little different though…I made a gel card!

The front is made to look somewhat like the porthole of a submarine. Having never been in a submarine and too lazy to look one up, this is how I envision one. lol I used a textured gray cardstock as the card base and cut a window in the center with my largest circle die. The gel is inside a bag that my Fizzy Moon stamps came in – I had to fashion it with ScorTape to get it closed, so hopefully this little fish doesn’t turn into an ooey, gooey mess! Another layer of the textured cardstock is up on dimensional foam tape. The window’s frame is made with two circle nestabilitie dies and the little *bolts* are made with the larger size punch on the Crop-a-dile. Before I glued down the *bolts*, I swiped some Ranger Distress Black Soot ink around for definition.

And here is the sassy Syren herself lounging on the ocean floor. The sand is kraft cardstock ripped and sponged with Ranger Distress Antique Linen. The background *water* is sponged lightly all over with Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass. The seaweed and coral are cut using the Cricut Life’s a Beach cartridge and pounced with chalk inks in their respective colors for a bit more depth.

Syren’s hair is colored with RV00, RV10, RV13 and RV14. Her fishy tail is done in BG10, BG15, BG23 and BG45. Instead of shading her tail, I dotted the darker colors in the shady areas. The fin is super sparkly with Turquoise and Silver AtYou Spica pens – love these! I also used the turquoise pen for her eyes.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! You still have a little while to get your watery creation in for your chance to win a $20 voucher to the iCopic store! This also follows along with the Copic Creations #57: Pretty in Pink. Please stop by tomorrow!! I have some super fun news to share {wink}!! Have a super day! lyss
COPICS:
Hair: RV00, RV10, RV13, RV14
Tail: BG10, BG15, BG23, BG45
Skin and Makeup: E00, E02, E11, R20, W1, W3

CSAYL: Monochromatic ~

2011-08-25T23:30:00.004-06:00

Hi there, fabulous Friday friends! It’s time for another Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long challenge. This week we want your creations to be monochromatic – all one color, whether that be red, green, blue, black or gold, keep the color of your creation centering around one hue.
I went camping this week, so my time was a bit limited. Seriously?! Who knew that camping for one night would take so much preparation and clean up? lol It was fun though! I stuck with a pretty easy monochromatic scheme of browns. I love to color with my Copics in sepia/kraft tones using E41, E42, E43, E44 and E49. I need E47 to really complete the set for myself…guess that’s getting added to the wish list!

This sweet little bear and snowman are from a retired CC Designs set. They’re stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and cut out using the Labels 3 nestabilities. While still in the die, I sponged the edges with Antique Linen and Walnut Stain distress inks. The card base is kraft stamped with PTI Polka Dot Basics 1 in Vintage Cream ink. I had a little rusty snowflake left over from a Christmas decoration that I tore apart last year, so I tied that on with some Rustic Cream button twine and a little tag from PTI’s Tiny Tags set. It matches so perfectly with the little heart cut out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please play along and get a head start on all those Xmas cards! You’ll thank me later {wink!} The winner of this week’s challenge will get to join us as a guest designer in September! I happen to be good buddies with one of the winners from this month, and I’m so excited that she’ll be joining us in a couple weeks!! ;o) Have a super weekend!! ~lyss

iCopic Blog Hop: All About Children ~

2011-08-19T05:01:00.005-06:00

Welcome to the iCopic All About Children Blog Hop!! You should be arriving here from the fabulous Kelli's blog, if not, please head back to the iCopic blog where our hop begins, for the complete list. You won't want to miss any of the beautiful projects along the way! Seriously, these ladies are so very talented!!

This is Fergus with Cupcake from Wild Rose Stamps...I told you that I am in love with this little guy! I just had to have him as soon as I saw him. So perfect for little kid's cards, whether girls or boys! It's all in the colors you choose to work with...

Speaking of colors, I used the iCopic Weekly challenge #43: Blue and Orange. I am no stranger to this color combo. Here in Colorado, our football team's colors are the very same, so you see them everywhere! I have to put in a little "GO BRONCOS!!" here, or I may be lynched. lol {I really care nothing about sports, so it's hard for me to even type the words!}

Moving on...Fergus is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. I cut him out with a large rectangle Nestabilitie die and sponged Ranger Distress Spiced Marmalade ink around the edges with the Ranger Ink Blending Tool and Foam Pads (the pics are flip flopped, but the description says it all!). The cupcake wrapper is paper pieced, his little paws/hands are popped up on super thin dimensional foam tape, the frosting covered in liquid pearls and the cherry is covered in a super duper thick layer of Stickles (covered with Glossy Accents once dry).

Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is our fearless leader, Samantha's blog. Don't forget to to leave a comment on everyone's blogs and play along with our All About Children challenge...because you could be the winner of some wonderful prizes for our blog hoppers!! Have a super weekend friends! :o) lyss

Copics {B91, B95, B97, B99, C1, C3, C5, R02, R29, YR12, YR15, YR18, YR61, 0 Colorless Blender}

CSAYL: No RG ~

2011-08-19T04:35:00.002-06:00

Happy Friday!! Time for another challenge with Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long! Perfect Presentation is the fabulous sponsor for this week’s challenge. Perfect Presentation creates printable and cut-able templates for use with digital cutting machines like the Cricut and Silhouette. Not only are these templates for the perfect presentation every time, but you will also find tags, circle cuts and labels for a great price! The challenge this week is to create a project using non-traditional colors - no red or green! A random participant will win their choice of one template from Perfect Presentation!

I chose to work with Able Gable, my absolute favorite template from this line! It's so roomy and easy to put together! I used Verve's Glad Tidings to add the snowflakes to the base Soft Sky layer. I thought that was all I wanted to do - no mats, no muss, no fuss! But it was just a little plain, so I added a mat of Smokey Shadow and stamped a white layer with the snowflakes. When I moved my craft room from my mom's back to my house, I didn't bring all of my SU! inks. I had to improvise a little with the inks that I have here. So I tapped Fresh snow ink on first and followed with a little Aqua Mist, softening the greenish hue of the aqua color. The sentiment is from PTI's Big and Bold Holiday Wishes and is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.
Thank you so very much for stopping by today! If you get a chance, have a look at my second post for the day! iCopic is having a blog hop with tons of fabulous prizes! Have a great weekend! :o) lyss

Sweet Milton ~

2011-08-13T04:28:00.003-06:00

Hello friends! This is my iCopic Lover post from yesterday. I've added a few little things here and there to tell you about the challenges that helped me along with this card.

Hiya there, iCopic friends! Alyssa here with another little sweetie from the Wild Rose Studio line of stamps. I seriously think that these little guys are my new favorites! Each little character is so darling! Just wait till you get to meet Pickle!
Since the iCopic Weekly Challenge #42 is coloring fur, I have a little Milton with Sunflower ditty for you. When I saw that little sunflower, I just knew I had to pop it up on some dimensionals. Milton is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with {a lot} of Copics! Seriously, I have a bloggy friend {you know who you are, Chris!!} that always teases me about the copious amounts of markers I use for one image! lol He looked a little plain all colored up, so I doodled in some grassy ground, flowers and little butterflies to go along with the Copic Creations challenge: Landscape Design.

Again, blogger doesn't like my photos and makes them appear blurry...if you click on the photo, it will open in another window and will not be blurry. Argh...

iCopic is now carrying some fabulous new 6x6 paper pads! You can go here to view the entire selection. The polka dot paper on the large panel is from the new Authentique Blissful collection. I just got it in the mail yesterday! It worked perfectly with my image...if you look really closely, the melon-y color is actually surrounding a few of the dots! How serendipitous!

Lastly, I stamped a banner from Lawn Fawn's Bannerific clear set in Versafine Onyx Black on vellum along with the sentiment (from my stash) and embossed it with clear detail embossing powder. I then fussy cut it out and mounted it on dimensional foam tape over the base of the image. The butterflies in the card tie in with the Pink Elephant challenge #111. Since I doodled some flowers, I'm also entering this in the Papertake Weekly Challenge: Grow Your Own. The sketch is from i{heart}2stamp - August SFYTT. Lastly, this is a sweet little birthday wish card so I'm entering it in Craft Your Days Away #26 and Tuesday Throwdown #61.

You have until Sunday, August 14th, at noon PST to link up your furry creation to the iCopic challenge. Not only do you have a chance at some goodies, but you may also be featured on the blog! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!! :o) lyss

COPICS {E27, E29, E37, R02, R24, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, YG17, YG23, YG25, Y15, Y35, Y38, YR12}

Happy Birthday Doug ~

2011-08-12T12:27:00.000-06:00

My hubby's birthday is tomorrow. He's 10 years older than me, so I always have to give him crap. This sentiment is from the Arrgh! Piratey set by The Cat's Pajamas. I'm pretty sure I've stated this on the bloggo before, but my guy is also a biker - as in he rides a Harley, a dirt bike, and if he didn't have a family, he'd be in one of those biker gangs like the Hells Angels. I have a HUGE thing for pirates, so I always call him my modern day pirate...hence the image I chose!

This is Billy Blyth. He's colored with Copics in my man's fave colors - red and black. The ground was sponged with Antique Linen distress ink and dotted with E31 and E33 to make it look like sand. The challenge this week on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog is distressing. I distressed the edges of all the paper with my scissors (and promptly found my distressing tool right after I finished! Hmph!) and then inked up the edges with a little Ranger Distress Walnut Stain ink. The sketch is the challenge on Paper Sundaes this week - love it! Going in my arsenal of go-to sketches! And since this is a birthday card, I have to enter it in Craft Your Days Away #26 and Tuesday Throwdown #61.

Happy Birthday honey! I love, love, love you!! Thanks so much for stopping by, friends! :o) lyss

Copics {C1, C3, C5, E00, E02, E11, E27, E29, E31, E33, E37, R24, R29, R59, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9}

CSAYL: Sweet Inspiration ~

2011-08-12T07:54:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday, friends! It’s Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long time! Our fearless leader, MacKenzie, has given us a yummy inspiration photo to work from. The winner of this week’s challenge will get to join us as a guest designer in September! (Aack!! I cannot even believe that it is almost my birth month!!!)

Talk about a doozy!! Soft pastel colors and cake…I didn’t even know where to start! I loved the detail on the table, the frosting reminiscent of ruffled ribbon and just had to use the colors of soft lemon and blushing pink.

I wanted to give my precious Copics a break {gasp!}, so I went with a stamped image of a gift from Papertrey Ink’s Holiday Button Bits. I’m challenging myself to use up some old Christmas Pattern Paper and these little gifts are just the size of some of my scraps. I stamped the little bow twice with Pure Poppy ink – so easy to line up since they’re clear stamps! The card base is Vintage Cream to match the little snowmen in the paper (Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly). The background is stamped with Lemon Tart and Sweet Blush inks and the Background Basics: Christmas set. I ruffled some soft pink grosgrain ribbon using Scortape and some small glue dots. This is the first time I’ve tried this and I really like it! Totally NOT a mailable card though! Lol

Finally, I wanted to use the detail on the table to frame a sentiment. I found an old Cuttlebug die with swirly, yummy details and cut it out of the cream cardstock. It’s glued directly to the card base with the sentiment popped up on a small dimensional.
Go ahead and bop around to the other CSAYL design team’s blogs to see their fabulous creations. As always, thank you so very much for stopping by! I'll be back later with my hubby's birthday card...I looked to challenges for some inspiration to get it done and want to post before deadline! lol Hope you have a fantabulous Friday and start to your weekend! :o) lyss

A Sympathy Card ~

2011-08-08T04:24:00.000-06:00

I love to make cards, but one thing I find super hard to do is to make a sympathy card. I have a hard time even reaching out to someone to say how sorry I am for their loss. I get weirded out because I don’t know what to say. Unfortunately, Kayla (my step-daughter) lost her uncle the other day. He hung himself, and his sister and mom found him the next day. Truly heartbreaking. I want to send a card to Kayla’s mom, but don’t know where to start or what to say, as usual.
I decided to find inspiration in challenges to get me started. I used the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo and Cute Card Thursday #176: No Designer Paper.
I used Wplus9 Designs Poinsettia Patterns and Papertrey Ink Mendhi Medallions to create a pattern. It’s stamped in Dusty Concord (Ranger Distress), Enchanted Evening (PTI), Ocean Tides (PTI) and Spring Moss (PTI).
I couldn’t capture it in the photo, but the card base is impressed with the Linen impression plate because of the linen on the bed. The color is Soft Sky to match the locker in the background. A few pearls around the sentiment add that little extra touch…but I don’t know if it’s too much. Oh well, I’m sure it’s the thought that counts.
Thanks for stopping by! Sorry for the downer of a story, but these are how things go in life sometimes! Have a super start to your week!! lyss

A Real Kicker ~

2011-08-07T10:03:00.000-06:00

Hiya friends! Here's my iCopic post from Friday. I'm also entering this in the La La Land Crafts 1st Birthday challenge. You have a whole month to create a birthday card using La-La Land Craft stamps for a chance to win a full set of 36 Copic Sketch markers!

TGIF...maybe that should become my mantra! lol All the greetings I have for Fridays are so cliche! I'll just use TGIF from now on ;o) Cliche or not, it will suit my posts well, as I always welcome Fridays!! Alyssa here with a little cutie patootie from La La Land Crafts - Soccer Luka. This little guy holds a special place in my heart because just the other day, we signed my little guy up for soccer lessons. This is such a darling stamp, I can see it being used for scrapbook layouts in the future!!
I used a sketch done by a friend for the layout - deconstructing jen. I feel a little unnerved to have to tilt a main image, but I got through it when I thought about how off kilter my life has been with a 3 year old boy!! lol (He stuck part of an action figure up his nose today and had to be taken to the dr. office!)

I won't state all the obvious - but I do want you to notice his grass stained knee...it's just one of those little details that you have to add! The soccer ball with the star rhinestone trail is supposed to mimic flames coming from his awesome kick! I added a little depth to the already orange stars by sponging on Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick inks. His skin is colored with E11, E13 and E15 for a Hispanic, Native American coloring or even a tan teenager on the beach! lol
I chose this skin color combo because of the iCopic Challenge #41 - Skin Tones. We want you to color skin tones out of your comfort zone! I think we all tend to gravitate towards what we know best or will be able to use within our circle of family and friends...well, step outside the box! Have fun and try something new!! Then link yourself up for a chance to win :o) Have a super weekend!! :o) lyss

COPICS {BG72, BG75, BG78, C1, C3, C5, C7, E11, E13, E15, E29, E33, E49, E59, G00, G02, R02, R20, YG23, YG25}

CSAYL: Gimme the Bird! ~

2011-08-04T23:40:00.000-06:00

Hi there friends! I’m typing this up while I’m at work (shhh!! Don’t tell my boss!), and I just had the most unnerving guy come in here. I have this sick feeling in my stomach that he was totally casing the joint…probably nothing, but I think I’ll be calling security for an escort out to my car tonight! Blech…hate that feeling!

Anywho…it’s Friday and time for another challenge with Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long! Our challenge this week is sponsored by Pink Cat Studio Stamps. The winner will get 5 digi stamps of their choosing! Gotta love free stamps!! The challenge is to use a bird image on your project.

I used the Penguin Candy Cane Swing digi stamp. It's printed twice and the swing/penguin duo are popped up on dimensional foam tape. I used some black embroidery floss for the swing ropes. On the candy cane, some Martha Stewart Garnet Glitter and Glossy Accents dress it up. The pattern paper is Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly from a year or two (?) ago. FYI: for reasons un-beknownst to me, the pictures I post in Blogger are showing up blurry; however, if you click on the full size, the picture is clear as a bell!
We are honored to have the wonderful Sam of Stamping by Sam joining us as a Guest Designer this week! Please bop around to all my teammates blogs - they are so full of talent!! Have a fabulous weekend!! :o) lyss

CSAYL: The Whole Sha-Bang ~

2011-07-28T23:17:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday!! I love Fridays with Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long! Creating my own Christmas cards is what got me interested in stamping in the first place! It has snowballed since then into so much more, as it does for all of us, to the point that I don’t always get all of the things/cards done for Xmas as I initially had planned. Being part of this design team has helped me to get way ahead of myself for the holiday season, and I love that!! Plus I get to work with an amazing group of women and tons of fun sponsors!! Speaking of sponsors…

Perfect Presentation is our sponsor for this week’s challenge. Perfect Presentation creates printable and cut-able templates for use with digital cutting machines like the Cricut and Silhouette. Not only are these templates for the perfect presentation every time, but you will also find tags, fancy schmancy circle cuts and gorgeous labels for a slammin’ good deal! When you think about all the possibilities and how you can re-size everything, these templates and goodies are well worth your hard earned cash!! The challenge this week is to create a gift trio – tag, card and package. A random participant will win their choice of one template from Perfect Presentation!

I chose to work with Cute Carton. In this template, you get two sizes – a one sheet carton and a larger, more roomy size using two sheets of cardstock. I worked with the smaller version to go with the small size of the card. It was cut from Midnight Sky shimmer cardstock and assembled with scoretape.

I cut a little tag from Tag Set 1 at the same time. The sentiment is from PTI’s Fillable Frames 9 and embossed in detail white embossing powder. The snowflake is cut from white shimmer cardstock and attached to the carton with dimensional foam tape. A couple of rhinestones finish it off and tie it in with the card.

The card utilizes the negative space of the snowflake die. I love this card because I can see so many other little cards utilizing negative spaces – whether they be from die cut shapes or shapes cut from some of my Cricut cartridges that I don’t use nearly enough! The sentiment is from Wreath for All Seasons (love that font mix!) and is embossed as well. A couple more rhinestones finish it up! Funny little back story on this set – I made the card for a publication call. After I had everything all typed up, photographed and edited and was ready to hit submit, I realized the call was for winter themed non-Xmas cards! Whoopsie!! So it sat on my desk until I got the challenges from our fearless CSAYL leader and decided I could just make a template and tag to go along with it!! Lol
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you’re inspired to play along with the last of our Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long challenges for July! I can’t believe that next week is August already!! Have a super weekend, friends!! :o) lyss

Make It Monday: White Ink ~

2011-07-28T18:09:00.001-06:00

Hello friends and fellow stamping addicts! Hope your week is going well! I just had to play along with the Make it Monday challenge for this week – coloring with white ink. The funny thing to me about the video is that last November, I had an idea for the Made with Snow snowman CAS card on kraft cardstock. I just had to have it, so I bought it off the PTI forum…and have yet to ink it up!! While I could have made a few Xmas cards for this challenge, I didn’t want to seem as if I were copying Heather Nichol’s design. I chose to ink up my Year of Flowers: Mums set instead. This is my favorite of the YOF series I think. It’s just so pretty! I’m really working more towards the CAS style – especially because I never send my cards out. If they’re CAS and can be mailed without having to go to the post office, perhaps more of them will make it out to my friends and family. ??? We shall see! I'm also entering this in the Moxie Fab Challenge: Fanatical about Botanical. What's innovative to me about this card? Coloring with chalk inks!

I clear embossed the flowers, leaves and a sentiment from Think Big Favorites 3 (stamped in Versafine Onyx Black). I then stamped Background Basics: Tin Types in Spring Moss. In the future, I think I’d do this step first so I wouldn’t have to smear the background when wiping it off the embossed sentiment. I colored the mums by dipping a Q-tip in Fresh Snow ink and swirling it all over. I added a teeny bit of yellow chalk ink to the centers and colored the leaves the same way with green chalk ink. All in all, a pretty quick card!
It needed a little extra something, so I added some white and green embroidery floss tied through the center of a black vintage button. Easy, quick and no bleed through like there would be with my beloved Copics! I can’t wait to try this out with some of the other chalk inks I have and tend to not use (they stain my stamps). Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be back tomorrow with a fun little gift set using Perfect Presentation Cute Carton template for Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long! Have a great night! :o) lyss

PTI Hop: You're too Kind ~

2011-07-25T19:20:00.000-06:00

Hello fellow PTI addicts! I'm squeaking in with a card I made today {at work!} for the July PTI blog hop. Here is the inspirational photo that the hop is based upon

I used Giga Guidelines, Guide Lines II, Mendhi Medallions and Think Big Favorites 1. The black dotted centers are super dimensional Ranger Black Enamel Accents {LOVE!!} Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the hop!! :o) lyss

CSAYL: It's All About You ~

2011-07-21T22:31:00.000-06:00

TGIF!!! Seriously!! I had a huge shipment yesterday and my boss showed up to do a long store visit...which I failed :(...I'm just ready for the weekend now!! lol I'm super glad to have this fabulous hobby that gives me a little bit of stress relief...and a little bit of stress because I only want to put out what I feel is my best work possible! lol Anyhow...

Friday for me means another card marked off the list for Christmas!!! The sponsor for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long this week is the wonderful Amber Ink. Amber Ink just turned one this very week! {Happy Birthday Amber Ink!!!} They are made up of a generous, talented, giving, kind, supportive and - well, just plain fantastic! - mother and daughter duo, Pam and Amber. Not only does Amber Ink create adorable and funny acrylic and digi stamps, but they also offer gorgeous digital papers! The randomly selected winner of this week's challenge will win a $10 gift certificate to the Amber Ink store!!
So what's the challenge you ask??? Well...it's all about you! Pick your favorite color and create a Christmas based project around it! My favorite color? I have no idea! I love orange...and red...and pink...and teal! I also tend to lean towards black - a LOT! So I went eenie, meenie, minie, moe and picked red as my favorite for this challenge.

The image is from the You're the Perfect Package digi set. I pictured some warm fleece red jammies as I was coloring little Amber up and matched the present she's wrapping to the Figgy Pudding paper...too bad it got covered up in the whole design! The layout is the Mojo Monday 200 sketch. Happy 200 sketches, Julee! They are always amazing and inspiring!!
Again, I hope you play along with us this week! Have a great weekend! :o) lyss

COPICS {BG15, BG23, E00, E02, E04, E11, E27,E29, E33, E37, R02, R20, R24, R29, R59, YG95}

Happy First Birthday, Amber Ink!!

2011-07-20T08:00:00.005-06:00

Twelve short months ago

we made our big debut,

So now we'd like to commemorate

our 1st birthday with you!

This flash mob of torchbearers

always light our way.

Won't you please jog along

on our special day?

Leave your comments here and there

over the next 48

On Friday we'll announce the loot

Don't wait...let's CELEBRATE!

It's PARTY time!! The fabulous Amber Ink is turning 1!! As the above poem states, a ton of torchbearers have created some amazing projects for you to feast your eyes upon. There are prizes along the way, so be sure to leave comments!!
Since it's such a long list of fantabulousness, I'll keep this short and sweet! I just love the bunnies in the Amber Ink Love Bunny line. They're just darling and super easy to color!! Since 1 is still really just a baby, I chose to use the Love Bunny - New Family digi stamp.

Happy First Birthday, Amber Ink!!!

Papers are Smokey Shadow and Sweet Blush. The SB papers are stamped in SB ink with Polka Dot Basics II and Damask Designs. The sentiment is from Bitty Baby Basics.

Have fun hopping along to all the other amazing designers blogs!

Pssst!!! Before you hop along on the party train, want another chance at lovely Amber Ink prizes??? Of course you do! Come back here on Friday for my Christmas Stampin' All Year Long post! Amber Ink is our sponsor and if you play along with the challenge, you'll have a chance at a wonderful prize from AI...plus you'll be one card closer to that long Christmas card recipient list! Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

Let's doodle ~

2011-07-18T07:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! Before I show you my iCopic post from Friday, I'd like to draw your attention over to my right sidebar. Amber Ink is turning 1!! We're having a huge birthday blog hop with prizes on Wednesday! You'll have 48 hours to complete the hop because the list is long!! That's how much we all love AI!! The first two cards in this post use the July's Sketch for You to Try. Without further ado, here's my post from iCopic Lover:

Hi there iCopic friends! It's Alyssa here to talk about something new I've been trying out - doodling with my copics. Most of the stamps I have are single images that don't have a background. You can always add backgrounds with other stamps, but that usually involves masking and stamping and re-stamping, and crumpling and doing over...lol! At least in my case it does! Enter the doodle! Scribble some lines, dot some spots, flick some blades of grass, etc! A bit ago, I showed you a scene that I had colored up with a faux sky/clouds. It really wasn't very impressive, as it was my first go at the technique and I haven't tried it again...yet. I've finally turned it into a card! Here is Lynette collecting her vegetables

The cute round sentiment in the sun is clear embossed and is from SP & Company's Round Sentiments 1 clear stamp set. I love how the inverted scallop circle nestabilitie dies look like a sun! Here's a close up of the coloring so you can see the subtlety of the *sky*

Next up is a sweet little dragon from Wild Rose Studio named Fergus. This stamp just happens to be Fergus with Tulips - I think I may be getting all the Fergus stamps...he's so stinkin' cute!! This next picture is to show that sometimes, though you may be satisfied with your coloring, you may be able to add a couple of things that just give your card that little extra umph!

The sky is sponged in with Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass ink, the base of the grass with Bundled Sage and his spots in his most shaded areas with BV08 and BV17. I also added a few blades of grass with G24 and YG67.

One little extra you can see in this close up {if you click on it to make it bigger} is the addition of a turquoise Spica to some areas of his ears, spines and wings. I also added the pupil back to his eye and removed the color from his little nostrils with a white gel pen.

One last pic to show you some doodling I've done with copics. The ground and trees were added with a little doodling! I know I probably shouldn't show this on here since it's not a stamp that iCopic carries, but I really just want you to open your mind to doodling! It's my new favorite thing to do!! This is the card I made for my hubby for father's day. You can see my post about it here {and learn that I have to find my inspiration all over too!}

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! Please link up in the comments if you're inspired to doodle!! :o) lyss

Fergus Copics {BG10, BG13, BG15, BG23, BG49, BV02, BV08, BV11, BV13, BV17, C1, G24, RV14, RV17, RV19, YG17, YG23, YG25, YG67}

CSAYL: Sketch ~

2011-07-14T23:36:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday, friends! Thanks to Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long I have about 10 Christmas cards done and 4 extra Christmas projects! How about you? Have you even started?? You should play along with us this week!! The uber talented MacKenzie has given us a fantastic sketch to work with, and you all know how much I love my sketches! Sketches mean that all - well, most - of the hard work is done for me! Gotta love that! The winner of this week’s challenge will get to join us as a guest designer in August!

I chose to work with this darling stamp from Rubbernecker called Moose with lights in antlers. If the truth must be told, I’ve had this little guy colored and matted since making Xmas cards last winter. I wanted to feel like I’d done something extra, so I added some glow of the lights to his body and antlers with color pencils. Since he’s stamped on Rustic Cream cardstock, his hat brim and pom are covered in white appliqué and heated for lovely puffiness. I also added Glossy Accents to all of the lights. I needed to add a sentiment and to break up the striped ribbon, so in comes another Tiny Tag. I told you I’d be using those on everything!! Lol The double bow is a little distracting, so that may have to change before he can be mailed.
The end of July is drawing near, can you believe it?!?! That means that Christmas is only 23 weeks away! Why don’t you join in the challenges and get a few cards done before the craziness ensues? This week we are honored to include Linda from The Stamper’s Touch as a guest designer. Please go leave her some love and bop around to the other CSAYL design team’s blogs to see their fabulous creations. As always, thank you so very much for stopping by! Hope you have a fantabulous Friday and start to your weekend! :o) lyss

Failure Leads to Success ~

2011-07-11T06:07:00.001-06:00

At least I hope failure leads to success! ;o) Here's my iCopic post from Friday...

I've got a card here that was soooooo much better in my head! LOL Do you ever do that? Have an absolutely clever card all mapped out in your brain, you stew on it and figure it all out and then it just doesn't happen the way you want it to? That is exactly what happened with this card, but I figure we grow from our failures! Maybe you can give me some suggestions on how to make it better?

First off, here is the adorable little Kitty with Cake from Wild Rose Stamps. I don't have cats because I am wildly allergic to them, so I went with whatever colors I felt like playing with instead of leaning toward realistic colors. The browns are a cocoa combo - E71 & E74 while the creamier spots are a combo of E51 and YR30. YR30 is one of the new colors that was released this year and I just love it! It's soft and vanilla like - the perfect cream color. The cake is covered in stardust Stickles with more glitter spread around the candle flames.

Here's where the card needs help. Instantly upon seeing this stamp, I thought it would be darling to only get a peek of the cake from the outside of the card. So little kitty is stamped and colored inside. Give me some suggestions on how to make this front work!

And here is the inside of the card. It might just be paper/color choices that don't work for me, but I need help with this one because I still love the concept!

Thanks so much for stopping by this week! It's always fun to read your comments! :o) lyss

COPICS {BG10, BG13, BG15, BG49, C1, C3, C5, E51, E71, E74, R20, R32, R35, Y35, YR30, 0 Colorless Blender}

CSAYL: Heavy Metal Holiday ~

2011-07-07T23:26:00.002-06:00

Kenny K downloads is the sponsor for this week's challenge at Christmas Stampin All Year Long! I love these images...edgy, detailed and fun! With this challenge, we'll have 3 winners!! The first will win their choosing of 3 digis, the second will win 2 digis and the third will win 1 digi.

So what's the challenge? Heavy Metal! We want you to incorporate metal into your holiday creation. You can use hardware, brads, embellishments or whatever your creative mind comes up with!

I was lucky enough to get to play with this sassy little number called Mistletoe. I made the card with hubby in mind - too bad I don't look like that in real life! ROFL I used my beloved Copics on her (but of course!) and some white flock and superfine glitter for all the fuzzy parts of her outfit. The mistletoe has just a hint of opal liquid pearls because mistletoe berries are actually white. It's so hard to not color it in like holly! lol

The sketch is the July Sketch For You To Try over at i{heart}2stamp. I've added some metal with the brad centers of the snowflakes and a couple of mini jingle bells flanking the sentiment tag. I've just got to mention that I am so, so glad I broke down and got the Tiny Tags set and die from PTI...I think you'll be seeing A LOT of these!! Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you come around to play with us over at Christmas Stampin All Year Long! You have 3 chances to win this week! :o) lyss

COPICS {E000, E00, E02, E11, E13, E29, E37, E71, E74, G28, R20, R24, R29, R59, RV69, W5, W7, YG63, YG67, 110 Special Black}

Swinging Sweetie ~

2011-07-04T08:45:00.000-06:00

Happy 4th of July!! Here's my iCopic post from this past week...hope you all have a fun, happy and safe holiday!

Good morning! Alyssa here with a little Swinging Sweetie from a new line of stamps called Tutti Cuti. These deeply etched, red rubber stamps, come pre-cut on foam ready to slap on an acrylic block and stamp away!

When I sat down to create this card, I had a totally different idea in my head. I was going to create a tree for her to be swinging from with baker's twine ropes on the swing and a blue sky/cloud background...after several attempts to get the tree just so, I gave up! lol I went and found a sketch to play with and came up with this little number. This is Jen's deconstructed sketch #8 and I love it!!! It's my most favorite sketch ever!!

She is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored to coordinate, but not necessarily match, the dp. I visualized the light shining straight down on her which is why the highlights are on the center of her head and legs. I don’t know why, but I almost always have my light shining from the upper right…maybe because I’m right handed…I don’t know. iCopic carries a book that is very helpful in determining your light source and how you would shade your image called Shadows & Shading: A Beginner’s Guide to Lighting Placement by the Copic Queen, Marianne Walker. It’s a great little book that even comes with 4 clear guides to lay over your image to help you visualize the shadows more. I highly recommend it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I always appreciate your comments! If you have any requests of what you'd like to see, bop in and mention them...if I can't make a tutorial happen, I'm sure one of my fabulous design teammates can! For all my fellow Americans, have a happy, fun and safe holiday!! And just have a fabulous Monday for all my other iCopic friends! :o) lyss

COPICS {B14, C1, C3, E000, E00, E02, E29, E31, E33, E37, G00, G02, R20, R30, R32, R35, YR00 Y21, Y26, Y32, 0 Colorless Blender}

CSAYL: She's Krafty ~

2011-07-01T04:05:00.000-06:00

She gets around, She's Krafty, She's always down... LOL I challenge you to get that song out of your head now!

Good morning friends! The challenge with Christmas Stampin All Year Long this week is to use kraft in your holiday card or creation. We are sponsored by the fantastic Pink Cat Studio stamps again. One lucky, random winner will get to choose 5 digi stamps! Tons of cuteness to choose from too!

I decided to try a very clean and simple one layer card this go round. Every Christmas, I end up spending so much money mailing all my cards! Once you slap on a bow, knot a ribbon, add some dimensionals, etc. your card cannot be sent through the normal machine, so it has to be sent parcel post and usually costs about $2. Also, I realize that a lot of my family and friends won't keep these cards that generally take me about 2 hours to make. *Light bulb moment* I'll print the image straight onto cardstock, color with pencils (no bleed through from my beloved Copics), a sentiment, a frame and a couple little embellishments and I'll be able to send these babies in the regular mail! WooHoo!

Only one problem...my printer didn't agree with kraft cardstock. Ugh. I nearly threw the thing out the window!! A 10 minute card quickly turned into another 2 hour card just because of the battle of printer vs. Alyssa. I outsmarted it though! Ha Ha! So glad I did too! This may just be one of my quickie holiday cards this year! Meet Friendly Snowman

The snow is Polar White Flower Soft. The pearls may be a little big for the mail, so for mass production, he may just get some Stickles or black glaze pen.

Along with all the fabulous samples from the CSAYL design team this week, we are lucky enough to be joined by not 1 but 2! guest designers. Please stop by Fabiola's and Joyce's blogs to see their wonderful cards! Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

You Glow Girl ~

2011-06-27T19:10:00.002-06:00

Hiya there, friends! It's time to show you some of the new goodies from iCopic I got to play with for the month! I got this fabulous chandelier stamp from the Penny Johnson Vintage line by Stampavie and an amazing new product from Tsukineko called Fireworks.

This little baby is colored with some golden yellows {Y21, Y26 and Y28} on vintage cream cardstock. Our challenge last week at iCopic was to color on anything other than white cardstock. Coloring these beautiful yellows on this cream allowed a richer color I think. Plus, the opal Ranger Liquid Pearls that I added stand out so much better! I used the current sketch from my friend Jen's blog, deconstructing jen. She features one of her sketches every Thursday - perfect for when I'm trying to crank out a card for a Friday deadline! lol

The new Tsukineko product, Fireworks, is a lovely, colorful, shimmery spray that coordinates with Memento colors. I received Desert Sand which is very golden...perfect for that candle light glow! I didn't want to spray my whole image however, so I sprayed it onto my craft mat and applied it to the image with an aqua painter.

If you click on the picture below, you can really see all the shimmery goodness! The sentiment circle was sprayed all over so you can get an idea of how these wonderful sprays work!

That's it for me! Hope you have a wonderful day!! :o) lyss

COPICS {R24, R29, Y000, Y11, Y21, Y26, Y28} Ha, ha, Chris!! I only used 7 markers on this!! ;o)

CSAYL: Inspiration Photo

2011-06-23T22:16:00.000-06:00

Hey there, hi there, ho there! How about a little inspiration photo for this week's Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge? Our fearless leader, MacKenzie, has chosen this non-traditional colored yarn wreath to provide us with headaches, er, I mean, a challenge. lol I went super literal and used the colors and a wreath image from Papertrey Ink from the set Wreath for All Seasons.

I think this is all pretty self explanatory. I used the colors Ocean Tides, Ripe Avocado & Spring Moss on Rustic Cream cardstock. I have to run out the door for work, so I hope it's enough details! lol

Please join us this week! Someone will be chosen to be a guest designer for July!! Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

A Note of Thanks ~

2011-06-20T06:36:00.000-06:00

Hiya friends! I'm here with a special little note of thanks from my iCopic post! When my son was born, my grandpa set up a college fund for him. I opened up a statement of said fund yesterday and realized that he'd been adding to it this year without saying anything. I figured I'd better make him a special thank you note and quick! lol

Picking through my stamps, I found the perfect little guy - Musical Ethan from Your Next Stamp. He's darling and super easy to color. I knew I didn't have much time, so I picked out my paper and layout (from some inspiration photos that I keep for just this purpose!). The papers helped me to choose how I would color up his little outfit.

The paper is My Minds Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue. It works out so well because my son tries to dress just like his daddy all the time, so it's camo and army green pants for him! I used a ruler and paper piercer to add holes around the edge every quarter inch and a 0.8mm Copic multiliner to add faux stitching - that little extra touch adds so much! The sentiment is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black (the absolute best ink for sentiments and beautiful black coverage) and embossed with clear embossing powder to really stand out against the busy background. Now I just have to get it in the mail...

Ha Ha! Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you all have a super fantastic beginning to your week! :o) lyss

Copics {BG15, BG23, BG49, C1, C7, C9, E000, E00, E02, R02, R20, YG93, YG95, YG97, Y21, Y26, Y32, 100 Black}

Happy Father's Day ~

2011-06-19T10:37:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! Hope you're all spending a wonderful day with the fathers in your lives! Today all my hubby wants to do is relax around the house...perfect for a hermit like me! lol A little while ago, I saw this card on the Kenny K's Krafty Girls challenge blog. I knew this was the digi stamp I would have to use for my husband's father's day card.

My husband has been riding bikes in some form or another since he was about 3. He sells Harleys now, so of course, he has to have a Harley too! lol

This is my guy riding his bike up in the great Rocky Mountains.

Seriously, I have to tell you that I felt like this digi stamp was drawn just for me! lol It's so perfect...and so detailed...and so daunting! I put this thing off until the day before because I was so scared to color it. Whenever I'm that scared, I must have reference photos to go off of. I'm not a true artist that just knows how things are supposed to look, or how the light hits things, etc. So I took photos of the card I wanted to CASE and of Doug's bike with me to work and set to coloring.

This is Dirt Bike Mike. He is so exactly a depiction of my Doug. Love it!! Of course, I colored this up almost entirely with Copics! ;o) His bike and outfit are colored mostly with warm greys (W3, 5, 7 and 110 Special Black) while the metal parts of his bike and the tires are colored with cool greys (C1, 3, 5, 7, 9). The forks of the bike are done with Y26 and Y28 - great golden colors. The ground is colored, dotted and doodled in with a bunch of browns (E23, 25, 29, 33, 37). I used a multiliner to draw a couple of extra mud clumps or dirt clods thrown up by his tires. The flames on Doug's helmet are actually all red, but I just had to try making fire-y flames and I love how they turned out! I did a gradient of R59, R29, R24, YR18, YR12, Y15 and Y13. The sky is sponged in with Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass. I thought I was finished there, but it needed that little extra something, so I doodled in the trees with G29 and G24 just like Heidy did.

Even though this is CASEd, it follows with the Copic Creations challenge #52 - to doodle on your art! lol Also, the challenge at iCopic (#34) this week is to color with browns. You still have a little bit to get your card in for a chance at a lovely prize there! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday! Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

My guy with his kiddos last summer.

Please ignore the yucky background of our hot tub...we need to fix it, but always find other things to do! lol

CSAYL: Black, White & ??? ~

2011-06-16T23:41:00.002-06:00

Happy Friday, friends! I'm back with this week's Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge. We are sponsored by the fabulous Perfect Presentation - your source for printable templates for a perfect presentation every time! One randomly chosen participant from this week's challenge will win a template of their choice! The challenge this week is to create an other-than-a-card project using the colors black, white and one other color of your choice!

I chose to use the Easy Candy Wrap file. One thing that I love about Perfect Presentation is that when you purchase the file in the svg or gsd formats, you also get the pdf file. Believe me...that saved my tuckus this week! In moving my crafty spaces {and still not being fully moved or organized}, I have misplaced my SCAL software. So I have the old computer all set up and hooked up to my Cricut, but it's of no use! Ugh. Good thing I have the pdf file too! I was able to print the template directly onto my paper and just cut it out...yay!

I went super easy with this challenge. Once I cut out the wrap, I measured and cut out a black mat and an aqua mist layer. I then stamped snowflakes all over the aqua mist using fresh snow ink. I glued it all together, scored it, assembled it and tied it up with some 1/4" double sided black satin ribbon. Easy! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you play along with us this week! :o) lyss

Gorjuss Girl ~

2011-06-13T04:11:00.002-06:00

Hey all! I'm back with a little masking and sponging card that I did for iCopic. I recently purchased some of my favorite inks - Tim Holtz Ranger Distress - in Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass (you so gotta love the names of these colors!). I've been stamping/coloring/obsessing in this little hobby of craftiness for a little over 3 years now...all this time, I've been trying to avoid these inks and oh.so.fabulous tools! I have finally caved and am so delighted that I have! I highly recommend investing in the Distress Inks...not only do you get amazing coverage on both rubber and clear acrylic stamps, you have the ability to emboss with them and get gorgeous results sponging with them! I also adore my non-stick mat and ink blending tool - not a big $$ investment, and I use them on almost every.single.card.

This little darling is the Little Foxes set of the Gorjuss clear stamp line. She and her pals are stamped in Memento Tuxedo black and colored with, what else?, Copics! After coloring and cutting, I decided I wanted to give my new inks a go, so I stamped various parts of the image on post-it notes and trimmed just inside the black lines. I was able to slip this mask inside the die to get a full coverage...gotta love how I always plan ahead! LOL I then sponged away with the two colors to the depth that I desired. TIP: I always use Painter's masking tape to secure my die to the stamped image from the back side. You don't want your die to slip while you're sponging and lose that crisp white border! Once you pull away the die and the masks...voila!

And there you have it! The sketch is June's Sketch For You To Try from i{heart}2stamp. The papers are My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Gertie. LOVE!! Hope you all have a fab Monday! Thanks so much for stopping by!! :o) lyss

COPICS {BG15, BG23, C1, C3, E00, E02, E08, E09, E11, E13, E19, E23, E27, E29, E81, E87, R02, R22, R24, R27, R29}

CSAYL: Babes in Toyland ~

2011-06-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

Friday has rolled around again already! It's time for another fun Christmas Stampin' All Year long challenge. This week the DT gets to play with whatever their little hearts desire...as long as we make our creation for a kiddo! A participant from this challenge will get to be a guest designer in July!

I was so inspired by the ease of last week's challenge, that I chose to create another gift card holder. Seriously, with all the nieces and nephews, gift cards are the way to go! lol So I channeled a little Shrek..."Not the buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!!" One of my favorite lines...
The paper is Dasher from a retired Basic Grey line, cherry Divine Baker's Twine, pink and blue embroidery floss and a sentiment on a tag from PTI's Mixed Messages. The GingerBread Man is from PTI's Holiday Button Bits - instead of buttons, I used some candy looking drops from Martha Stewart. Pretty simple and fun! The inside houses the same easy peasy gift card holder from last week with more Dasher paper. Hope you like! Play along... :o) lyss

A Syren's Treasure ~

2011-06-05T23:55:00.002-06:00

Hi there! I'm back this week to play with dots some more! Not sure why I'm doing this so very much, but I'm loving playing around with the texture of dots! lol This is an iCopic post from a couple weeks ago...hope you enjoy!
This week I worked with a very appropriate hotty - Syren of The Greeting Farm. She is so very appropriate this week because of the new Johnny, er, I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean movie that came out recently.

I'm {still} in the process of moving my crafty spaces, so didn't have a ton of stamps in my arsenal. I needed a sea like background and always think of polka dots as a nice bubbly like backdrop. I found a polka dot heart in SP & Company's Artsy Heartsy (sent to my by our fabulous former DT Diva Linda C!) I turned the heart upside down repeatedly to stamp in the negative spaces of a line of hearts to create a polka dot strip. It's not perfect...but it doesn't need to be! It's just a background!
I colored up this little vixen and added dots of YG95, G99 and BG75 for some texture on her little fishy tail. She's complete with make up and super rosy cheeks using R32. Hair is something that gives me a real problem! It quickly became a hot mess LOL so I just started scribbling some colors around and then blended with my lightest brown. It's all about knowing your limitations and understanding that this is your artistic license!! At least, that's what I tell myself! ha ha ha
Little Miss Syren is sitting on some sand that is torn from Kraft cardstock and sponged with Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink (the #1 Distress Ink you NEED!) I used a few pearly buttons to represent some treasure and called this little cutie done! Thanks so very much for stopping by! Also, I'm seeing this around a lot, but I'm having a hard time signing in on google to comment on my friend's blogs! Sorry...I'm seeing everything you all are making...and as always, you all blow me away with your creativity!! :o) lyss

COPICS {BG70, BG72, BG75, E00, E02, E13, E25, E27, E29, E37, G99, R32, W3, W5, YG91, YG93, YG95}

CSAYL: A Little Something for You ~

2011-06-03T07:54:00.000-06:00

Hey! How are you all doing? I'm not so hot...well, actually I am. I think I'm running another fever here. Gotta love that it's finally sunny and 90 degrees outside, and I'm stuck inside with strep or some other nasty thing. Ugh...anyway...

It's Friday again! Time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge! This week we are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio - 5 digi stamps are up for grabs with this challenge! Your challenge this week is to make something from me to you: Make a gift card holder and leave us a link for your chance to win. You can create your own design or use a favorite template or tutorial. We also have the amazingly talented Lori joining us as a Guest on the DT for today. Please stop by her blog and say hello!

I knew I'd seen a cute gift card holder that I really wanted to make for this challenge...after searching SplitCoastStampers, Paper Craft Planet and plain old Google, I couldn't find it anywhere! That's when it dawned on me to check my bookmarks for 'Blog pages to refer to'. I found it! And it was on SplitCoastStampers! It's here if you want to check it out, and it's super easy!

I used the adorable Reindeer Ride digi stamp from Pink Cat Studio. It's colored with Copics and distressed around the edges with Ranger Antique Linen (don't know what I did before I had that fabulous ink and sponging tool!).

Here's the inside that holds the gift card...sorry, I only had a Mother's Day flowery one from Lowe's to show how the gift card is held inside. lol In my fever induced state, apparently I didn't realize that I need to put a white mat inside to write a little message to the recipient. Oh well! That's an easy fix! I'm so glad I finally tried this tutorial! Now I know how I'll be doing my brothers' Christmas cards this year. Hope you play along with us this week! Have a super weekend! :o) lyss

CSAYL: Die Cuts ~

2011-05-26T22:20:00.000-06:00

It's time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge! Our challenge this week is to use a die cut as your focal image.
WARNING: I'm about to ramble on for a moment, so you may want to skip down a ways till you see a picture. I swear, these weeks go by so very quickly! I get less and less crafty time it seems! The process of moving my goodies back over to my house is not progressing very quickly! lol On Sunday, I spent the entire day weeding, mowing, planting my garden and moving my son's and step-daughter's rooms. I was working non-stop from 9:30am to 10pm! So much for a day off! I've moved a ton of fun things over here but have yet to organize things...Wednesday is supposed to be my one crafty day a week - where I accomplish all I've been brainstorming since the previous Wednesday! lol Let me take you through Tuesday first - I went to work for my 12 hour day knowing that my District and Regional managers were to visit my store on my day off! Ugh...seriously?!? Whatever, I'll just get everything I can done and hope that I can answer questions later! I manage a small retail store in a dying mall, so the budget is small for the types of things I need (like a door dinger). Anyway, I put off the things I needed to do in the back of the store till later in the evening when I should be slow; however, I had to re-do all of the posters that need to be put up for all those regulations, etc. The only place to put these posters up is in our little bathroom (yuk!) where the light and fan are connected - hence you can't hear if anyone comes in the store! Needless to say, a 20 minute project took more like an hour and a half and had me rattlesnake pissy...once I finally got all finished and was able to close the gate, it was already 20 minutes past closing time. I quickly counted the drawer and got all ready to head out with my boxes and bags of trash. I suddenly realized I couldn't find my work keys!!! Another 30 minutes of looking for my keys (to no avail), I finally decided to leave work at 10pm. By the time I got home, I was angry at myself and stressed about losing my keys, I was ready to pick a fight! Then my husband hits me with this bomb.................
You have an appointment tomorrow at 1:30 to finish your sleeve!! OMG!!! I've been wanting to do this for so long, but I'm so angry at myself I have a hard time getting excited. Anyhow....I ended up having to go to work in the morning to find my keys (which I did!), then drive back home (30 miles) to pick up the family and drive back to town to go get tattooed (another 30 miles!)...5+ hours and a bottle of Crown later, my half sleeve is done (and beautiful!!) and I realize I still have a CSAYL card to make!! LOL With that all being said, I wish I'd brought you something nicer this week and yet, I like the simplicity and mass productivity possibility of it...

The card base is stamped with PTI's Background Basics: Diamonds in Vintage Cream ink with the edges sponged in the same ink. A simple mat with Ocean Tides and Rustic Cream stamped with Joy from Verve's Glad Tidings forms the base for a Vintage Ornament tied with Rustic Cream twine and cut from a retired dp of Stampin' Ups! Easy Peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by (and reading my ramblings, if you did!) Hope you have a super weekend! :o) lyss

CSAYL: Very Vintage ~

2011-05-19T22:55:00.002-06:00

Hey all! I’m back after a much needed week off…unfortunately, I didn’t get anything accomplished as I had hoped! lol I’m in the process of trying to carve out some space at my house to have my crafty goods with me. It will be so much better when I can just bop into my space for 20 minutes or be able to add that extra little button to a project without having to wait till I can make it over to my mom’s! Anyhow…
The challenge with Christmas Stampin’ All Year Long this week is Very Vintage. This week I want you to be "Very Vintage" with your style. Distress inks, cream cardstock, muted images, ribbon, lace - however you interpret vintage. The winner will join us next month as a guest designer! So come play along with us!

I chose to go with one of my favorite stamp series of all time – Year of Flowers by Papertrey Ink. December’s flower is the poinsettia which can be colored in so many different ways. I chose a warmer, deeper red with just a couple of leaves sticking out from behind. This card was CASEd from the fabulous Niki Estes. The largest mat was misted with water and run through the ‘Bug’ with the Linen and Canvas impression Plate. Every layer was sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink and the sheet music was stamped in the same. The poinsettia was stamped 3 times, colored in smaller layers and popped up on dimensionals.

I did something different when coloring this flower. Once I had it all colored and shaded, I needed a bit more highlight. Instead of going back with the colorless blender, I went back with R35 and took some of the darker red (R39) out. So simple and it didn’t give me the washed out color that the blender may have!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I’ll have my iCopic post up tomorrow! Hope you have a super duper weekend!! :o) lyss
Copics {R35, R39, R59, R89, Y32, YG93, YG95, YG97}

My First Magnolia ~

2011-05-07T18:46:00.001-06:00

Hey there! Welcome to a look at my first Magnolia! These stamps are all the rage in the stamping world, and yet, I've managed to stay away for over 3 years!! Intimidation? Why yes! I think it was! lol I've always thought they were a little fat and looked funny without a nose or mouth! She's kind of cute though :o)

I was lucky enough to receive Tilda with Hawaii Flower from iCopic, so I set about finding papers and colors to make this little lady nice and bright! She is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on the Copic X-Press It paper - this is my first time using this paper as well. The ink seems to sit atop the paper more allowing you more time to blend your colors. I think I like it but will have to get used to it first.

The challenge on the iCopic lover blog this week is to color grass in your image. I accomplished this by filling in a straight line of ground in YG23 and then coloring to the base of the paper. I then used YG17, YG25 and YG23 with short flicks of the brush tip to make clusters of grass. I also created a bit of shadow beneath Tilda and where her hands would throw shadow on the ground with the gradient of greens. A bit of sparkle was added to the flower in her hair and to the butterfly wings with AtYou Spica pens in Lemon, Orange & Pink.

The flower is cut from a bit of pink felt and jazzed up a bit with RV13 and RV14. Again, just a few flicks with the brush tip give this flower a little more depth. A button tied with some Divine Baker's Twine in Lemon completes the center.

Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss
Copics {BOOO, BG10, BG13, BG18, C1, C3, E000, E00, E02, E23, E25, E27, E29, R02, RV10, RV13, RV14, Y11, Y13, YG17, YG23, YG25, YR12, YR18}
Spicas {Lemon, Orange & Pink}
Challenges:
7 Kids College Fund
ABC DT
Claudia & Company
Crazy 4 Challenges
Let's Ink it Up
Paper Sundaes {E23, E25, E27, E29}
Papertake Weekly
Embellish Magazine
Mojo Monday

CSAYL: Make Us Laugh ~

2011-05-06T07:22:00.001-06:00

Hi there! Time for another challenge with the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long gals! This week we are sponsored by Pink Cat Studio. The randomly selected winner will win 5 digi stamps of their choosing from this adorable line!

I chose to use this adorable Santa image this week. The challenge is to use a funny sentiment on your card. I thought and thought and finally figured out a sick little sentiment that will make my type of friends giggle!

He's colored with Copics, glitter was added to the star and his buckle with a gold Spica pen, the tree is dotted with Silver Liquid Pearls and Xmas Red Stickles and the entire candy cane is covered with Ranger Glossy Accents. While he was still in the die, I traced around the inside with a 0.3 Copic Multiliner - my new favorite thing to do!

So the sentiments not really that funny...yet! Jump to the inside of the card

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" and inside "You must've been good this year! Santa called out your name 3 times!!"

Ha, Ha, Ha! I just couldn't help myself! So make a funny card and join along this week! Have a super weekend! ~ lyss

Copics {BG99, C1, C3, E00, E02, E27, E43, E44, G00, G02, G24, G28, R20, R39, R89, W7, Y28, YR04, 110 Special Black, 0 Colorless Blender}

Gardening Boy ~

2011-05-04T14:06:00.000-06:00

Hello, hello! Hope you all are doing fantastic on this hump day! I realized today that I've only been posting on my little old blog about every Friday. I have posts up on the iCopic Lover blog every Friday too, but I'll start posting them here.
This is a sweet new Stampavie image, Finn Whistling While He Works. The artist is Sarah Kay, and she draws such darling children! These are very detailed images, so you have to use a light hand when coloring with your beloved Copics. The end result is so worth it though!

He is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on a rustic cream cardstock. This neutral cardstock takes a little bit of practice because it bleeds more than papers designed for Copic coloring. Make sure when you are starting out with your Copics or coloring on a different medium to test out on some scrap...you might just ruin your whole project if you don't! Don't ask me how I know! lol

I tried a different technique for the ground cover and just dotted the greens around - YG61, YG63 & YG67. I wasn't impressed with how harsh it looked at first, so I ran the 0 Colorless Blender over it a bit and then added some more dabs of color here and there. I think this technique still needs a bit of work before I'll be totally happy with it, but hey, we're all learning here! :o)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll try to not be such a stranger around here! ;o) lyss

Copics {B91, B95, B97, B99, C1, C3, C5, C7, E000, E00, E11, E31, E33, E37, E71, E74, R20, V95, V99, Y15, Y21, Y26, Y28, YG61, YG63, YG67}

CSAYL: Favorite Image ~

2011-04-28T23:01:00.008-06:00

Happy Friday friends! That means it's time for another challenge with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long! It's just my kind of challenge too - use your favorite Christmas image. The winner will get to be the Guest Designer for a May challenge!

I don't like to play favorites...I mean, really! It's just not fair! But I will say that one of my favorite lines of stamps is the Lil Lolitas & Lil Lads of Tickled Pink Stamps. This is Lil Christmas Lad Frankie...since I know you'll fall in love with him, here are two links for you. You can get him from All That Scraps (for those of us in the US) in rubber here and from Tickled Pink Stamps (this is from Australia) in digi here (aack! can't find the link right now!) or rubber here.

He's colored up with a long list {wink!} of Copics! His belt buckle and earing are colored with a silver Spica pen for a bit of shimmer. The little snowman's buttons, eyes and mouth are colored first with a black Copic and then a Sakura black glaze pen - super shiny! Papers are from the Basic Grey Jovial 6x6 paper pack - Love it! I added a strip of Pinefeather paper punched with the Lattice punch from Martha Stewart. A little cherry baker's twine, some jingle bells and a Cheers tag finish off the front!

The inside is finished with some scraps and a little sentiment from a Wplus9designs set.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you all have a super fantastic weekend! :o) lyss

Copics {BG10, BG99, C1, C3, C5, E00, E02, E11, E13, E23, E25, E27, E29, G21, G24, G28, R20, R24, R27, R29, W7, YR04, YR18, 110 Special Black, 0 Colorless Blender}

CSAYL: Warm & Fuzzy ~

2011-04-22T09:46:00.000-06:00

Hi friends! It's Friday morning and I am late again...after spending the evening making my card for iCopic today, I went home to find that I had a sick little monkey on my hands. Poor little guy has been running to the bathroom non-stop and wanting to hold mommy's hand in between. He's finally resting, so I thought I'd pop in here and share this little ditty! Thanks for waiting so patiently! ;o)

The challenge for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long this week is sponsored by none other than the fantabulous Perfect Presentation! You must bop on over to the challenge blog because Anna Banana has provided participants with not one but two free PDF templates to play with! What a sweetie!

Also, a random winner will be able to choose a template from the Perfect Presentation store. Oh, you want to know the challenge? Ok...it's to use felt on your project. Easy enough!

I chose to use the SVG file Spring Basket - such a fun one because you can use a handle or not and it comes with a picket fence border as well! Another thing I adore about the Perfect Presentation templates is that if you purchase the template in either SVG or GSD, you also get the PDF version. I knew I wanted to attempt to make my template out of felt entirely, so off I went to Hobby Lobby for some cheap felt. I was so excited to find some paper board type felt! Sweet!! I printed the PDF version on regular typing paper and used some removable adhesive to attach it to the felt board. Super easy to cut out, score and assemble. I used some fabric glue instead of Scor-Tape.

Isn't it so cute and warm and fuzzy!?! The top left corners on both sides are adorned with some hand cut holly leaves and red buttons tied with cherry Baker's twine. So great for setting out some holiday candy, nuts or potpourri or giving a little gift of cookies to your neighbors, friends and family! You could easily attach a little handle with some cute brads or stitch it up if you aren't allergic to needles and thread like me! lol

I hope you play along with us this week! Don't forget to stop by all the other fabulous ladies blogs on the DT - there are some amazing creations this week! Thanks for stopping by :o) lyss

Emerald Faerie New Release 3 Winner ~

2011-04-21T19:43:00.000-06:00

Good evening all! I'm bopping in here really quickly to tell you the winner of my candy from this post. Random.Zaner chose lucky number 13!! Leona - you are my winner!! Congratulations! I'll email you with the deets on how to choose and receive your image!

This is just a peek of the new Kenz & Tilly image from Emerald Faeries. I still haven't completed the scrap page I want to make with it but wanted to have a pic for the post! lol Emerald Faeries has more exciting news...a new challenge blog! We'll be starting up on May 1st, so get your markers, paints, pencils or whatever you use to color with ready to play!! Bop over here to become a follower and play with us!

Also, iCopic is having a fantastic Magnolia sale through tomorrow, April 22nd. Magnolia stamps are an additional 10% off with a $25 purchase! Just use the code TILDA10 at checkout. Thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

CSAYL: Markers Down {GASP!!!} ~

2011-04-15T00:34:00.002-06:00

Hey all! Time for the next Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge! This week we are sponsored by the fabulous In Style Stamps. A randomly chosen participant will win their choice of 4 digi stamps from this adorable line! The challenge this week is to put the markers down!! You must watercolor your image - whether it be with watercolor pencils or re-inkers or paints and an aqua painter or brush - you cannot use markers to color your image!

WHAAA! I want to cry...and so do my Copics...so unloved!!! lol I used this adorable image called Santa's Snack. I first tried to print it on Kraft paper, but after jamming the printer 7 times, finally figured out that was a no go! lol So I switched directions and printed it straight on white. I wanted something bright and colorful so I chose this paper from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly 6x6 paper pack. Afraid the printer ink would smear, I heat set it first (good plan) and used watercolor pencils with an aqua-painter (bad plan). I need practice in this beautiful technique {severely!!}. After spreading the printer ink on several letters, I finally decided to add the image to the circular file and begin again! lol

This time I heat set the image and lightly filled it in with and aqua-painter and ink pads from Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, So Saffron, Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi to, in essence, *watercolor* the image.

The background paper stands out with a little detail of a ticket corner punch. I added a strip of Soft Sky cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart icicle punch, some PTI Hibiscus Burst grosgrain ribbon and a Pure Poppy button tied with some Cherry Divine Baker's Twine. Super simple and easy to mass produce! Way easier than if I'd colored with Copics!! I've just had a friend, I won't name names...Chris...that counted the markers I use to color an image...it gets a bit ridiculous at times (25+)! lmao! ;o)

I encourage you to give this challenge a try...for me, it really was a severe challenge!! Don't forget to bop along to the other ladies blogs and have a look-see at their stellar creations! Have a super Friday!! :o) lyss

Emerald Faerie New Release 3 & Candy ~

2011-04-14T14:52:00.002-06:00

Hello Emerald Faerie fans! It's time for another release of these fantastic faeries. This go round we seem to be celebrating spring with some mama and baby faerie combos - Kenz & Tilly and Kayla & Twinkie. We have two blog hops for your visual pleasure, and you will have the chance on all the blogs to win an Emerald Faerie digital stamp of your choice. You must be a follower of the blog and you must comment to win. Look at all those chances...not to mention all the eye candy!

Group A:

Natalie

Tracey
Sammie
Vic
Viv
Alyssa (you're here!)
Tracy J
Cabio
Kirsten
Kari
Group B:
Julie
Trudi
Anita
Ronda
Louise
Nancy
Deb M
Deb P
Donna

Today I have a CAS baby card for you using Kayla & Twinkie. I have a very good friend that is pregnant right now, due next Thursday, so I had to make this up for her. She's let me know that she's having a girl but is torturing her family and letting it be a surprise {hee, hee}. We had talked about her painting the baby room in two colors of purple or doing darker purple accents on a light purple wall, so I used those colors as a jumping off point.

I added some super sparkly glitter to her wings and a fun treatment with a button. The card is wrapped with a light purple embroidery floss and baker's twine. I threaded the floss through two of the button holes and the twine through the other two. The floss is tied in a bow and then I joined the floss and twine to tie another bow. A great way to keep this card CAS but add some embellies at the same time! I may have to go back and add a little rhinestone to the sentiment...we'll see.

Both new Emerald Faeries are available now in the digi form from Deb's Creations. Rubber stamps are on their way, so they are available in pre-order form...I know I'm a rubber stamp loving girl!

I have a little Kenz & Tilly all colored up but want to add it to a scrap page. I'm challenged in this area and haven't been able to make it happen just so. I'll have it ready next Thursday, 21 April, when I come back to announce the winner of my digi stamp blog candy! Hope you all are having a wonderful day! Thanks for hopping by! Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win, then bop off to Tracy J to continue the hop! :o) lyss

Copics {BG10, BG13, BG18, BG45, BG49, E000, E00, E02, E11, E29, E33, E37, R20, V09, V17, V20, V25, Y000, Y11, Y13, YG11, YG13, YG17, YR12, YR15}

Hello Perfect Angel ~

2011-04-08T09:35:00.000-06:00

Hi again! I'm sharing another Thursday girl from the Greeting Farm's Creeper Crew for my iCopic DT post. I was glad to accept the position to stay on the design team for this fabulous marker, stamp and ink shop. Sadly, Linda and Wanda did not stay on at this time...but iCopic is having a DT call! Go here to check out the requirements and send in your application today!!

Thursday's shirt and hat are pieced with a distressed orange paper from the {retired} Basic Grey Archaic line. To give them a bit more life, they are shaded with Copics that matched - YR12, YR15, YR18, YR61 & YR65. Her shirt needed a bit of spunk as well, so I added a fun image from the SP & Company clear set Rain Boots in Ranger Distress Tea Dye ink. One tip I have for paper piecing is to shade your area, cut it out and then line the sides of the cut out *very* lightly with a black Copic. It helps the piecing to blend in with the original stamped area instead of giving a white or ratty line against it. Because most pattern papers are more flimsy than regular cardstock, you have to use a light hand to line the edges; otherwise, the black Copic will bleed into the pattern paper ruining all your hard work! We just don't want that!! lol

The base patterned paper panel was sponged with Ranger Distress Walnut Stain ink. It helps to soften the strong pattern so all the intense patterns don't compete too much with each other.

I wanted the inside to be decorated as well, so I used another distressed plain piece from the paper pack, a scrap of the base mat and some fun stamps. Thursday is stamped lightly in Tea Dye ink. She's not fully stamped to flow with the whole *Grunge* look! The 'hello' sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Just My Type, stamped at an angle in Walnut Stain ink. 'Perfect Angel' is from The Greeting Farm's Naughty or Nice set. Such a wonderful way to combine sets and fonts for something fun...kind of a play on words since her little kitty hat looks like devil horns!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I always love your comments and encouragement! Have a super weekend :o) lyss

CHALLENGES ~
7 Kids College Fund #18: Seeing Spots - in the paper
Copic Creations #47: Your fave Copic technique - shading paper piecing
Craft Your Days Away #17: Spots and Stripes - in the paper
i{heart}2stamp: April SFYTT
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
Supplies ~
Copics {B95, B97, B99, C1, E000, E00, E09, E11, E29, E33, E37, E43, E44, R20, YG63, YR12, YR15, YR18, YR61, YR65, 100 Black}; Copic Multiliner
Stamps: The Greeting Farm Thursday; The Greeting Farm Naughty or Nice; Lawn Fawn Just My Type; SP & Company Rain Boots

CSAYL: Cut It Out ~

2011-04-07T23:30:00.002-06:00

Happy Friday friends! It's time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge. This week we are challenging you to *Cut it Out*, in other words, use the paper piecing technique.

I chose to use this darling little image from Motivet called Santa in the Chimney. One reason I love rubber or acrylic stamps over digi stamps is that it is so much easier to paper piece them! I know you can print your digi on typing paper, tape your patterned paper down over where the image printed and reprint to paper piece a digi, but I'm just too lazy for that! LOL Hey, at least I'm honest! ;o)

Most of you that come to my blog know that I have a little boy, so whenever I have a boy image, I must color him up like my little man. I used a mulitliner to turn the little bear he's dragging behind him into a Pooh bear like the one Zane has. So fun to personalize things this way! His jammies are paper pieced with paper from the Wassail pack, as well as the stockings that are hung by the chimney with care! The tops of the stockings are fluffed up with some Liquid Applique. The tops of Santa's boots also have some Liquid Applique and glitter because Santa is magical! ;o)

I hope you play along with us this week! Our fearless leader, MacKenzie, will be choosing someone from the participants to be a guest designer in May! Fun!! Thanks for stopping by! :o) lyss

CHALLENGES ~
Craft Your Days Away - Spots & Stripes spots and stripes on the pattern papers
i{heart}2stamp: April SFYTT
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes

SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: Motivet Santa in Chimney
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Antique Linen
PAPER: PTI Rustic Cream & SS White; Basic Grey Wassail
OTHER: Copics {C3, C5, C7E000, E00, E08, E11, E18, E19, E25, E27, E29, E31, E33, E41, R20, Y21, Y26, Y28, Y35, Y38, YG95, YG97, YR30, YR65, W3, W5, W7, 110 Spcl Blck}; multiliner; Doodlebug glitter; Liquid Applique; Sakura black glaze pen

Larkspurs embossed ~

2011-04-07T14:18:00.001-06:00

Hi all! I got some crafty time today and needed to create a birthday card for my fabulous sister-in-law. I chose to play along with the current Make It Monday challenge at Papertrey Ink, heat embossing.

I love to heat emboss my sentiments. I don't think that Memento Tuxedo Black is bold enough for my taste, so I almost always emboss my sentiments using Versafine Onyx Black and Filigree detail clear embossing powder. Gives your cards a really polished look! Also, I love coloring on Rustic Cream cardstock but find that my Copics tend to bleed a bit more than when I color on the Stamper's Select white, so I embossed the larkspur image the same way.

I chose a super simple layout and super simple coloring - I don't think I've ever colored an image with just 4 Copics!! I'm not sure if the embossing helped with the markers bleeding or not because I didn't shade the image too much. I'll have to give it another shot with an image that has more room for shading. The embossing did help me stay within the thin lines of the flower stems though! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all are having a great week! :o) lyss

CHALLENGES ~

Craft Your Days Away: Spots & Stripes - the tin types image is spots and stripes! bonus!

Paper Sundaes #63: Spring Blossoms - ? Are Larkspurs spring blossoms? I don't know, but I'll give it a shot anyhow!

Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes - gotta love that!

SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: PTI Background Basics: Tin Types, Communique Curves Sentiments & YOF: Larkspurs
INK: VersaMark; Versafine Onyx Black
PAPER: PTI Rustic Cream; SU Almost Artichoke & Mellow Moss

OTHER: Copics {G82, G85, V20 & V25}; Filigree clear embossing powder; PTI Rustic cream twine & Plum Pudding vintage button; SU Olive organdy ribbon

CSAYL: Inside Out

2011-04-01T09:12:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! It's late here and I need to shut my eyes as I've been battling some nasty bug the past few days. I'll be by early in the morning with a little more vim and vigor to post my card for the new challenge at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long. Thanks for understanding!! :o) lyss

Good morning! Thanks for indulging my sleepy-headed-ness! I'm back with my Christmas Stampin' All Year Long post. This week we are sponsored by the fabulous Pink Cat Studios

One lucky participant will win 5 digi stamps of their choice! PCS has some adorable stamps, bop over here to check them out! Our challenge this week is to keep it moving - decorate the inside of your card as well! This is one of those steps that we sometimes forget but really makes a huge difference.

I chose to use this sweet little stamp called Billy Rides a Train. I'm sure any mother of a toddler boy knows how much boys love their trains! This stamp is so great because the flag that Billy is holding comes blank, but you are able to download a few freebie sentiments to fit into the flag!

Billy is colored in with Copics to match the Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper that I chose. I kept the layout super simple because I'm challenged that way...lol! ;o) I added a couple of extra embellishments of snowflakes cut from the Spellbinders Create a Flake 1 dies and a few buttons tied with PTI rustic cream twine.

I used the Merry Christmas sentiment printed out separately. It's lightly shaded with C1 and softened with the colorless blender. I then cut it out, rimmed the edges with a black Copic, glued the base closest to the stick and popped the outer edge up on a dimensional. You can kind of see it in the pic.

I needed a cute sentiment for the inside, so I found a font that seemed the most similar to the flag's sentiment and printed one out on my computer.

"Choo! Choo! That's train talk for Merry Christmas!"

I know, I know, kind of cheesy. Lol But fun all the same! The train punch is from Martha Stewart that I found on clearance for like $3 - gotta love that! The green paper it's punched from is actually the back side of the striped pattern paper.

That's it for today! I hope you all play along with Christmas Stampin' All Year Long this week! Be sure to bop over to the challenge blog to see all the other fabulous creations the rest of the design team made! Have a great day! :o) lyss

Copics {B91, B95, B97, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, E000, E00, E11, E29, E31 E33, E37, E55, E57, E59, R20, R39, R59, R89, Y15, Y21, Y26, YG93, YG95, YG97, 110 Spcl Blk, 0 Colorless Blender}

Happy Birthday Mom ~

2011-03-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

Hey ladies! Here's a card I made for my mother's birthday! I was lucky enough to win this gorgeous stamp set, Butterflies & Blossoms, from one of the Flourishes' DT blogs, Leslie Miller. It's been on my wishlist for a while, so I was ecstatic to see my name in flashing lights lol

Mom and I were discussing my card style the other day and I was complaining about how sometimes I think my cards are too plain, but I have such a hard time picking out papers and making everything go together just so. She said she liked the simpler stuff better...sure made making her card easier! lol I used a Sketch Girl sketch, number 14, flipped it and changed some things around, but it was the inspiration for the layout! ha ha ;o)

I wish I'd taken a little different picture to show you the butterfly. I colored the one on the image as well as another, cut it out and glued the body part down to the image. The wings are then folded up to give dimension and a little interest to the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you're having a great week! :o) lyss

Challenges:

Claudia & Company #78: Choose 3 of the colors I used Lavender, Pale Green & Yellow

Tuesday Throwdown #42: Florals

SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: Flourishes Butterflies & Blossoms; PTI Background Basics: Tin Types; Verve Circular Sayings
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Onyx Black; VersaMark
PAPER: PTI Plum Pudding & SS White; SU Pale Plum
OTHER: Copics {B34, E15, E18, E19, E37, E49, V93, V95, V99, W3, Y11, Y13, Y15, YG61, YG63, YG67}; Spellbinders classic circle dies; white embroidery floss; PTI Plum vintage button; Filigree clear embossing powder; Pebbles pearlescent chalks; Tombow Mono Multi glue; dimensionals

Just Us Girls #77 ~

2011-03-25T23:49:00.002-06:00

Helllllllooooo ladies! I'm back with my last project as the guest designer for JUGS :o( I've had so much fun and been welcomed by this fabulous group of ladies so well! Thank you again JUGS girls for choosing me to be your March Guest Designer :o))

This week we were challenged to make a zipper flower. These little flowers are all the rage right now, but I've been reluctant to try them. The fantastic Dana Gustafson has provided an amazing tutorial here...problem is, I have now scientifically deduced that I am allergic to a needle and thread! I start sneezing, break out in hives...you know, the whole shebang! For one, I don't know how to properly thread the damn thing! I know, I know, I could Google it and find a million videos on how to do it just so! I don't want to! Then I'd be required to sew everything back together and that just doesn't fly with me! :o) lol

So I found another tutorial here that just uses ScorTape - right up my alley! The only problem I ran into this go round, was that some of the tape showed due to the thin width of the zipper.
Instead of panicking, I chose to dump some turquoise glitter over the flower to hide my mistake and for a little shine ;o)

I used one of my all time favorite quotes featured in Verve's Beautiful You set on a PTI Fillable Frames #10 die. The card needed just a tid bit more, so I added some butterflies {punched from a MS punch} and a little Fruit Punch Stickles.

I really hope you play along this week...it is my last one after all! lol Have a superb weekend, friends!! And, as always, thanks so much for stopping by! :o) lyss

Sweet Blush Dahlia ~

2011-03-25T11:47:00.001-06:00

Hey all! Just bopping in quickly with a little card I made for the PTI March Blog Hop: Embroidery Floss & the Make It Monday challenge #7: Coloring on non-neutral cardstock.

I saw a card that another lovely crafter made with the Delightful Dahlia stamp set and just had to CASE her technique.
ETA: I found the card! It was done by one of the fabby JUGS girls that I had an honor to work with for the month of March. Here is Andrea's card that inspired my little quicky.
I clear embossed the large dahlia on Sweet Blush and shaded with R20 and R22...it was a bit too stark, so I ran the 0 Colorless Blender over the whole thing to soften the lines. The leaves are done on Spring Moss with YG91 and YG93. I'm not in love with the leaves, but they'll do in a pinch! The embroidery floss is nothing new. I just wrapped a couple different color pinks around the card base a few times and tied them in a sweet bow. Easy, pretty and perfect for mailing! Thanks so much for stopping by!! :o) lyss

CSAYL: Make It Yours ~

2011-03-25T00:12:00.001-06:00

Hey all! It's Friday again, which means it's time for another Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge! This week we are sponsored by the oh.so.fabulous Perfect Presentation -Your source for printable {and cut-able} templates for a perfect presentation every time! Our challenge is to create your own background paper with stamps. A random winner will be able to choose their own template from the Perfect Presentation store!

I'm lucky enough to be part of the fantastic design team for this company, but, even if I weren't, I would love it all the same. The designs are easy to use, fresh and light on the wallet! Gotta love that! :o)

I chose to use Able Gable - one of my all time favorites because of it's size. This template comes with an optional mini-cupcake insert which would be perfect for sending out some pumpkin mini muffins for the holidays...yum!

I began by cutting my decorative mats (also included) out. I lined the large rectangles and top wonky rectangle pieces (technical term) out on my mat and stamped them together with VersaMark and an image from Distressed Stripes. They were then embossed with Zing Red Glitter embossing powder - let me tell you, I thought I had a lot of glitter around after my fairy cards the other day...I was wrong! This stuff got everywhere! I even found it on my face while sitting in front of the mirror at the salon yesterday! lol After heat embossing the stripes, I laid out the pieces again and stamped the peppermint candy image from Background Basics: Christmas in pure poppy ink.

Funny thing is, this whole design came about by accident. I had an idea of what I wanted to do in my head for a whole week...stamp candies in black, color in image with Copics, color over with VersaMark marker and clear emboss. Whoops! Guess I'd better learn my stamp images better or plan something out with the correct image in my little brain LOL I'm happy with the outcome though...very festive!

Anyhoo, the box was a bit plain so I added a label from Label Frames 2 - I merely increased the mat size in SCAL by 1/4 inch. It needed some color, so I added a holly image from Verve's Holly Jolly and colored it with Copics. The berries are colored in {flat} and covered with Stickles - I find I don't get quite the color depth I want if I don't add color behind the Stickles.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are inspired to play along with CSAYL this week!! :o) lyss
SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: PTI Background Basics: Christmas, Distressed Stripes & Signature Christmas; Verve Holly Jolly
INK: VersaMark; PTI Pure Poppy; Memento Tuxedo Black
PAPER: PTI Pure Poppy & SS White

OTHER: Perfect Presentation Able Gable & Label Frames 2 svg templates; Copics {G24, G28, BG99 & R27}; Zing Red glitter embossing powder; dimensionals; Scor Tape; Xmas Red Stickles; PTI white satin ribbon; silver jingle bells; embroidery floss

Emerald Faerie winner & a Valentine for Zane ~

2011-03-23T10:34:00.002-06:00

First off, so sorry for not posting the Emerald Faeries winner sooner! I have a new job...let me tell you, after being home for over a year, adjusting to this new schedule has been a bit of an overwhelming trouble for me! lol Plus, I worked yesterday from 9am to 930pm, so I was just too pooped to type! lol So, without further ado, the random winner is #3 {picked by my little monster when I said, "Quick Zane! Tell me a number!" lol

Debra of Twisted Monkey Scraps, you are the lucky winner of 1 Emerald Faerie digi stamp of your choice! I've sent you an email :o) Congratulations!

I thought I'd share this card today before it got too far away from Valentine's Day. Lol I was inspired by Laurie's CAS card for Amber Ink. I just adore Henry the mouse from Whiff of Joy! He's so cute in all of the designs! His expression on this stamp is just too adorable though :o)

Just a little card to tell my little monster how much I love him! Hope you all are having a super duper hump day! I'm off to relax at the salon and get my hair done...love those *me* days! :o) Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and to all my bloggy friends, I'm so sorry I haven't been around commenting. I'm trying to find that balance in my life while trying to work things out with the hubby, the new job, the toddler that is sad to have to switch between houses and not have his mommy around all day with him, etc. My Google reader has gotten to the point that I'm afraid to check it! lol I will get around eventually...thanks for understanding!! :o) lyss

CHALLENGES ~

Let's Ink It Up #11: Die Cuts & Punches

Whiff of Joy Challenge #100: Let's Celebrate!! Anything Goes

SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: Whiff of Joy Henry with Heart; SU hearts jumbo wheel
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; PTI Pure Poppy
PAPER: PTI Pure Poppy & SS White
OTHER: Copics {C1, C3, C5, R02, R20, R27, R29, RV69, W3, W5, W7, 0 Blender}; Spellbinders classic circle dies; dimensionals

Just Us Girls #76 ~

2011-03-18T22:06:00.000-06:00

Hey ladies! It's time for the color challenge with Just Us Girls and it's a beauty! Baja Breeze, Soft Sky, So Saffron & Pink Pirouette - pure gorgeousness!! This week the girls are sponsored by the fabulous Paper Makeup Stamps.

Due to this fabulous color combo, I chose to use Francesca the Cat...so saucy, naughty and fun! She's colored in with Copics and cut out with Spellbinder's classic long nesties. While little Francesca was still in the die, I used a multiliner to trace a border leaving just a bit to add some dots, mimicking the lines of the precious kitty. I dislike the way the matting is longer than it is wide, so I always cut the base off and round the corners lightly with a file.

A close up of the bow using Stampin' Up's So Saffron grosgrain (thanks Anna Banana!), a PTI Sweet Blush button and some pink embroidery floss. I love to do bows this way because they actually turn out right, lol!

I couldn't sleep last night...so I made this card after I decided to just give up and roll out of bed around 4am. Something is missing and I just can't put my finger on it...

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you play along with this soft and supple color challenge! :o) lyss