Unity Christmas Birds of a Feather

I'm so in love with this Unity "Birds of a Feather" stamp set because of its versatility; I can't believe what a great value it was. It covers birthday, fall, Christmas and spring! I scored this set on my last trip to the Pine City Scrapbooking Company last month; I haven't been able to find Unity Stamps anywhere around St. Paul, so I had to snap it up when I found it!! I'm just getting around to posting these; I made them last month at a get-together at Archivers and cranked a bunch out for Christmas cards this year.

I used a Justrite monogram stamper to spell out the sentiment and a nestability circle & scallop die.

Here's my Vintage Christmas flowersoft obsession again!

Papers by Basic Grey (Wassail) & My Mind's Eye Be Merry - Frosty Flakes

Minimal coloring on these babies! I used Milky white and buttercup yellow to just outline the dove.

Are you Christmas shopping today? Remember to be merry!

Lisa

SU Acorn Thanks

Short and sweet, I am thankful for YOU, my faithful readers!


Happy Thanksgiving!

Merry Merry Pink Persimmon House

I am in CHRISTMAS mode this month, in a BIG way! Another Christmas sample using Pink Persimmon's little Christmas cottage set! I paper-pieced the cottage's little roof, then used liquid applique for snow on top and hanging down as icicles.






I got this tinsel-like ribbon at Michaels' on clearance last year, and used it as a glittery accent behind my sentiment. I also found that cool red ribbon at Michael's in the dollar section! I need more of it!

Pink Persimmon Christmas Scottie

Still playing Pink Persimmon! I love these little scottie dogs and decided they needed to get decked out for Christmas! I used a K & Company Christmas Cheer mat pad for the background papers, and then stamped the scottie dog in a nestabilities circle.

I also had to use some of my vintage christmas Flowersoft around the edges of the image. Note: when you glue this on, you'll want to use diamond glaze, crystal effects or Aleene's glue to glue it on. Make sure you use a thick glue to insure that all of that flock stays on the image securely! I am now officially a flowersoft ADDICT!

Our Craft Lounge - Bubs the Beaver

Dang, I totally forgot to post these Bubs the Beaver cards that I made for the grand opening of Our Craft Lounge!



This is one of my faves from the newly released OCL sets. I'm SO going to make some belated birthday cards with it when I get a chance.





I created a little patterned paper 'dam' of logs with the log from this set, and tore & distressed it along the edges. I also sewed around the focal image and added a matchy flower for the sentiment.






For this card I thought it would be fun to use my nestabilities scallop die to take little 'bites' around the edges of the image, so it looks like the beaver chewed on the card!

Happy Monday, all!

Don't try the cake, go for the icing.

I revived this old Stampin Up "Sweet Treats" birthday cake stamp because I needed to crank out birthday cards again. I HAD to use my Michael's coupon to grab this Inkadinkado kids sentiment "Don't try the cake, go for the icing" sentiment. I am finally seeing these cute sentiments in stores now; I fell in love with them at the Anaheim CHA show last year!




I paired the cake up with some pink "My Mind's Eye glittery Laundry Line papers (Flirty Embrace, Flirty Stripes & Flirty Fun Lovin". The papers are super glittery and shimmery, so you don't have to use glitter on them! No mess! These came together quickly at a girls get-together that I went to last weekend. I'm still in use-it-up mode, I used almost all of this hot pink May Arts polka dot ribbon that's been in my stash for AGES! I love when I use stuff up! Today I'm heading out to my hometown for a Christmas tour of homes. I have my tree up and ready to decorate because I always get the bug to haul out my decorations after seeing all the cool decor at the home tour houses! Happy Sunday, all!

Xmas Dick & Jane Bingo Card

So you guys. I have such a crazy idea this year. Remember these vintage bingo/BEANO cards my Mom picked up this summer? Well I want alter a ton of them and decorate a tree in my craft room! We'll see if it happens...I really want to try, though! Wouldn't it be fun?

This is one of the projects I did last week at a stamping get-together! I've been totally digging on my Pink Persimmon stamps so much lately; I can't stop picking up the packages and looking at the sheer cuteness! These Dick and Jane images are from their "Little Red Wagon" set. I loved stamping the little Christmas tree in the wagon and coloring it bright red. Except these kids must be from California, because I haven't seen any Minnesota kids looking this cute in shorts and bare legs, lately! I also got their "small banner" set, and paper-pieced the little banner on the top with some paper scraps I had. I used "Vintage Christmas" flower soft on the tree so it looks like it has holly berries on it. This was such a fun project, I want to do MORE MORE MORE!

Happy Thursday!

L.

Some-Bunny Wuvs You!

I'm so enamored with these little bunnies from Crafty Secret's new Snowbunnies set! Look at how sweet that little mama bunny is, tying a scarf around the little one! I added a little snowman-snowbunny to the background to hold my sentiment, too. I'm not so great at coloring background scenes, so I kept it simple on this one. I figure the background is white, right? SNOW! I also added one of those little chipboard swirls with Martha Stewart green glitter on it for sparkle.

I love that it has been flurrying here in MN; it makes me want to stamp Christmas and winter cards! This weekend I buckled down and shoveled out my stamp room; I'm getting into that winter 'nesting' mode, and pulling out xmas decor and christmas lights. This year will be low-pressure as far as gift-giving goes; our family has decided that we have everything we need and more, and are going to just do white-elephant gifts this year. Are y'all cutting back also? I already feel less stress and pressure ...I feel like I'm really going to take my time and enjoy the holiday this year~!

Happy Wednesday!

L.

Our Craft Lounge - Tree-mendous love!

Happy Tuesday, all! I've got another sample to show you from Our Craft Lounge tonite! I was trying to crank out two cards for each of the sets I received, but for some reason this card took me longer than normal and I finally had to put the giraffes away and call it a night! I love that most of OCL's sets do double duty, and you can use them for more than one occasion! I love how well-thought out all the sets are! WAY TO GO GIRLS!

This set is called Tree-mendous love, and can be used for baby cards, valentines, or just a happy-hello type card! I decided to do 2 lovey-dovey giraffes; my first thought was to intertwine their necks, but I was fully into a sinus infection meltdown when I made this and just didn't have the brain capacity at the time! I bet you could just shape the necks on your block to intertwine them. DUH. I'll have to try again another day!


So this is the card that I ended up doing. I paper-pieced the leaves of the tree onto green My Mind's Eye Patterned papers, then colored in the hearts a little darker green so that they pop off the paper. I also had to draw some little x's and o's carved into the tree. I don't think you can see it well on the photo, but the heart in the tree is bright red sparkly glitter!

Hope your week is flying by, I can't believe November is 1/2 over already! Where has this month gone? GASP!

L.

Touch of Nature Bird Thanks

Tonite I'm posting more of my cranked-out cards from last week. I pulled out my "Touch of Nature" Stampin Up set because I love this bird from it so much & am in desperate need of birthday and thank-you cards! I use this set on tons of different cards; thank you, sympathy, birthday, get well.


The papers are from a Daisy D's 8 x 8 Beacon Hill paper pack that was gifted to me by some friends at a retreat I went to a few years ago. I'm sort of liking this color combo of yellow, blue and ruby red cardstock; when I choose my colors, I usually pull the colors out of one of the patterned papers that I'm using on the card.



For these cards, I pulled from the blue polka dot paper on the left.

I've got tons of stuff to show you guys this week, I have more Our Craft Lounge Samples, Crafty Secrets and Pink Persimmon! I'm crankin' girls, just crankin!

Happy Monday!

L.

Sledding Crafty Chicks

Tonite's card is a simple one I made with the Crafty Secrets "Snow Bunny" stamp set again. This little sledding chick image is adorable, and a perfect size for using in the nestabilities circle dies. I used black and red for this card, and stamped snowflakes all over a patterned paper that I got from a Crafty Secrets Paper pad. The paper is mainly white and has raised swirls in it, which made me think snow flurries. So I added more of them in red and black to match my gingham.

I also used a cool new product that I bought at the Pine City Scrapbooking Co; it's called "Flower Soft" and is this funky, netty-type stuff that you use to simulate flowers or holly. Their website is HERE if you're interested...I just bought the Vintage Christmas color for holly and wreaths, etc., but I have a feeling I'll be going back for more of the pastel flower colors of it too! You just glue it to your images with a liquid glue pen, like you'd adhere glitter or flock. I press it down into the glue to make sure it sticks well. COOL STUFF!

Dirty Dozen Gallery - Chick Lit!

It's UP! It's UP! Two new fab dirty girls, Bev Rousch and Joanne Basile have been announced in the Dirty Dozen gallery this month over at Splitcoast stampers! Congrats to you both, sweet girlies! You will ROCK Splitcoast! If you don't subscribe to the Dirty Dozen Gallery and want to check out their blogs, you can find Bev Rousch HERE and Joanne Basile HERE!

This month's theme in the gallery is "Chick Lit", which has SO MANY interpretations to it! Did you guys know that if you subscribe to the Dirty Dozen gallery, you can play along with the monthly themes? It's called "fan club interactive", and you're able to upload your own creations once the theme is announced!

This is one of the projects I was going to post to the Dirty Dozen gallery this month, but it didn't quite make it in. I decided it didn't fit the theme enough, so I thought I'd post it here instead. When I was thinking literature, I thought of kids studying at school, and decided to do a little candy or snack- themed gift that you could give to a studious kid. I found this cute Autumn Leaves Owl image in the Archivers $1.99 spot, and then used some Studio G alphabet stamps to stamp 'whooo loves you' on the card.

Last month in the gallery I introduced a new box that I created with some cool candy boxes that were gifted to me from Lana Lepinski (Nashville Wraps Boxes). They are cute, shiny boxes that you'd put truffles or candy in to give as gifts! I decided to attach a little 'billboard' type piece of cardstock to the back of the box, to create a little standing 'billboard' for your sentiment & image. My inspiration for this was the little hang-style boxes that aspirin or chapstick comes in at the store. These are so easy; you can alter any box by just adding cardstock to the back of it with Killer Red Tacky Tape (red-line tape). I also cut the top out of the box and added a transparency window so you can see the candy inside. Strawberry Whoppers! YUM!

Have a great Saturday, all!

L.

Our Craft Lounge - Pat the Good Dog!

Yippie! OUR CRAFT LOUNGE IS UP AND RUNNING! We can stop teasing you with the sneak peeks now; you're able to go directly in and check out all the new sets and samples! OCL sells both rubber cling stamps and photopolymer acrylic (SOLID acrylics, not smushy ones!)

This set is called "Pat the Good Dog", and looks like it's going to be a fun one to use for dog treats and all-occasion cards!

Here are some of the cards I did with the set. I took a transparency sheet, stamped white bones on it with white stazon, cut it out with a round nestabilities die, and then added it to the top of a red circle of the same size. I also used Darice Clear Luster Gems and colored them in red to match my paper.

It was fun to stamp the little bone border on my patterned paper, and then color them in with a white Ranger inkssentials gel pen. I also fun-flocked (Stampendous) the green grass!

All papers are by My Mind's Eye.
Stamps by Our Craft Lounge.

YAY, IT'S FRIDAY! CONGRATS, SWEET GIRLS, THANKS FOR LETTING ME BE PART OF YOUR FUN FUN DAY~!

LZ

Check out these blogs for more cards:

Lila Holgate
Cami Turnbow
Kisa Peters
Nancy Morgant
Heather McNally
Carol Halvorson
Kendra Wietstock
Pam Hooten
Lana Lepinski
Nancy Morgan

Our Craft Lounge - Doctor Peanut!

Here's another sneak peek for you, from the brand-spankin-new stamp company called "Our Craft Lounge"! (FRIDAY, FRIDAY FRIDAY, GIRLS!) Hmmm..I'm sensing a theme this week in my stamping...STILL SICK here in Minnesota! I've got drugs now, so life is good. Doctor Peanut prescribed antibiotics! YIPPIE!

Here's a little get-well gift set I concocted, using the 'peanut' theme, with orange circus peanuts inside. I made a matchy-matchy kleenex-y gift box and card with our cute little sick ellie!

I have to tell you about how this little gift set came about because you'll get a laugh outta this one. I was gifted a ton of cute boxes from Terri at Creative Cuts and More, to congratulate me for being chosen to the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen! Terry sells individual cuts of the Accucut die cut boxes, in any color you want! So in the goodie bag she sent me an Accucut cupcake box. I pulled the box out of the package in pieces, and looked at the box and thought, cool, they have KLEENEX boxes now! So I brought the box along with me on Saturday, and used my killer red tacky tape to adhere the kleenex-y piece to the top of the box, and then decorated the box with my little ellie image!

SEE, it looks like a KLEENEX BOX, RIGHT? RIGHT?!!!

Okay, so I totally missed the boat on this one. The piece I adhered to the TOP of the box, is the piece that goes INSIDE the box to hold the cupcake! DUH! Terry had to 'splain to me that the cupcake boxes have 4 pieces! NONE OF WHICH I ADHERED CORRECTLY! So I'd like to think this little box ensemble was produced by sheer CREATIVITY, not STUPIDITY, but alas, it wasn't. But hopefully you now have a new idea on how to use those STINKIN CUTE CUPCAKE/KLEENEX BOXES! :)

There are MORE MORE MORE sneak peeks of the OCL (Our Craft Lounge) stamp sets and yummy eye candy on the following blogs! ENJOY!

Cami Turnbow

Kisa Peters

Bevie Pearl Barton

Heather McNally

Carol Halvorson

Lila Holgate

Kendra Wietstock

Pam Hooten

Lana Lepinski

Papers: My Mind's Eye, Eclectic Paperie

Stamps: Our Craft Lounge

Colored with Copic Markers, Warm Grey 2, Baby Skin Pink, Sanguine, Celedon Green, Buttercup Yellow

Accucut Box: Creative Cuts and More

Our Craft Lounge - Running Sick!

Well if there was ever a more perfect day to post this exciting news, I don't know when it would be! I held down the couch cushions last night with a full-blown sinus infection! Can you believe my assignment was to post this "Running Sick" set, to announce a BRAND SPANKIN NEW STAMP COMPANY called OUR CRAFT LOUNGE!??? They will be up and RUNNING for business this Friday, November 14th, with a TON of cute stamp sets for you to browse! Here's a sneak peek of one of the new sets, called "Running Sick"! Check it out, have you ever seen a more appropriate cold-and-flu-season set? LOL!


This card uses both the running kleenex box and the thermometer..when I made it I was picturing a hubby and wife sitting home in their p.j.s because the kids gave them the latest illness-du-jour! I used a clear dew-drop type bauble (Darice luster gems) and colored it in red for the bulb on the thermometer!

I had visions of green, snotty baubles on this card, but since the samples will be used on the Our Craft Lounge website, I restrained myself. Instead there are subtle green tones and green buttons to give the card a GREEN feel!!!! LOL! Our Craft Lounge opens on Friday, so I'll provide links and a reveal later on for you to check it all out! In the meantime, check out these other blogs for more sneak peeks!

Cami Turnbow
Bevie Pearl Barton
Carol Halvorson
Heather McNally
Kendra Wietstock
Lila Holgate
Kisa Peters
Pam Hooten
Joy Kennedy

Papers: My Mind's Eye Stamps: Our Craft Lounge

Crafty Secrets Sledding Bunnies

I was finally able to play with the newly released Crafty Secrets "Snow Bunnies" stamp set that I've been itching to play with lately! These little guys are so cute, and so different from some of the winter snow stamp sets out there! I decided that the blue gingham paper from Crafty's "Earthy" paper pad would do the trick for the little winter scene, and I stamped a row of mittens below the image because, well, WHERE ARE THESE KID's MITTENS? Either they threw them off or some little bunny Mom is overworked and overwhelmed!


My chipboard swirl obsession got a workout again here; this time I colored the chipboard in with my Cadmium red copic marker and then covered it with red fun flock, to make a fuzzy swirl. Dang, I should have fun-flocked the mittens, too! Where was my brain that day? I've been foggy for the last 3 days because I think I have a cold or sinus infection. I need it to GO AWAY!

Why is it that you only notice the mistakes when your card is up close and personal on the web?! L.

Pink Persimmon Scotties

Oh man. I've fallen head over heels in love with a new stamp company, called Pink Persimmon! I can't believe all of the new, cool stamp companies that are popping up all over the place! I saw a link on Splitcoast stampers the other day for Pink Persimmon, and when I saw these stinkin cute scottie dogs, I HAD to have them!



It was instant love, especially when I discovered that their stamps are the same quality photopolymer as Crafty Secrets & Papertrey. I'm so SNOBBY when it comes to the "smushiness" factor..these are SOLID, baby! I used Neenah Solar White cardstock and black Palette ink & the doggie just POPPED!
I'm not gonna lie, I do NOT own the cute patterned papers behind the doggie. They were 4" x 4" sample sheets that I got at CHA at the October Afternoon booth! No one around here really carries October afternoon, so I was FORCED to use my sample swatches for this card! They were just too perfect! I also used a new color of Mark Richards Crystal Bling Stickers..they come in ORANGE now! So I gave our doggie here an orange bling dogtag, for sparkle. I also used vintage crepe paper around the center image & ruffled it around the doggie. Happy Monday, all! L.

Happy B'day, Bella!

So this morning, I'm packing up my stamp stuff to head over to my Aunt Jan's scrapping group in Hudson, WI today. I'm hoping to make a ton of samples to put on my blog, since I'm done with my dirty dozen assignments for the moment! In the meantime, I thought I'd show you guys the card I made for my sister Gina's birthday. She has a tiny yorkie named Kira, so it gave me an excuse to pull out my "Parisbella" stamp from Stamping Bella and use her on Gina's birthday card!


Remember I told you guys I have a new obsession? Well I've gotta show you the fun swirls I scored from the Archivers dollar spot. I've been feeling like I always use the same 'ol, same 'ol stuff on my cards, so I was EXCITED to see these chipboard swirls in Archivers hot spot for $1.99 a bag!


When you pull them out of the bag they explode, because there's so many in there! I've been painting them and then covering them in glitter and using them on cards!

I also have to show you what I did with all of my embellishments. I was inspired by a scrapbook store in Pine City, MN, where they sell embellishments by the piece, like an old candy store! They had glass cookie jars and bowls of fun goodies to purchase one piece at a time!

I wanted mine to be on a smaller scale, so I pulled out all of my antique ice cream cups, champagne glasses, compotes and cake plates! I arranged them from tallest to shortest. Then set about pulling all my embellishments from my travel case into the glasses!









Here's what it looks like finished!

It's so nice to be able to finally see what I had in my stash. I travel a lot with my stamping stuff, so during the summer it has to be portable and easy to grab on the go. But in the winter.....I'm snuggled up at home in my stamp room. And now I can see all of the goodies at a glance!




Thank you, Marni, at Pine City Scrapbook Co., for all of your inspiration!

Have an inspired Saturday, everyone!

Duluth Crop for the Cure Photos

Oh man, I'm so behind I can see my butt in front of me tonite. I'm just FINALLY posting pictures of the Duluth Crop for the Cure that I taught at a few weeks ago! I know these photos are *SO* last month, but I really had an awesome time there and I wanted to show you guys what a cool setup Alane and the Duluth girls had. They raised over 10,000 for breast cancer research! CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP??? These are the powerhouse chickies behind the crop; from left to right are Kimberly, Alane & Julie, the sweetest, most genuine girls I've ever met. These girls worked their BEHINDS off for this event!

The crop was held at Marshall school, which overlooked Lake Superior with these gorgeous floor to ceiling windows! The space was bright and cheery, and it was a sea of pink decorated tables!

There were tons of silent auction items up for bid, such as this Ali Edwards canvas. It is the one pictured in her book titled, "Life Artist"! SO COOL!

Cool pink nesting suitcases up for bid!

Scrappers, hard at work in the gorgeous, bright light of a sunny Saturday!

Okay, I usually don't take photos of bathrooms, but this one was ALL TRICKED OUT IN PINK! LOOK AT THE PINK TULLE HERE!

COOLEST TEE SHIRTS EVAH! I was gifted one of these and I ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT!

Pink raffle tickets, which I stole. Not to win the raffle, of course...to use on cards! DUH! Okay, I didn't steal them, I asked permission before I dived in. Thanks, Alane!

Heather Nichols (Pinefeather) of Papertrey/Pinefeather Press fame, teaching a class with her own stamp line! Look at these studious girlies, all dressed in pink!

Here's Heather showing how to put her envelope book together.

Pine's project was so festive & Christmassy! And we used Pinewhite ink and kraft paper, of course!

Thanks again Alane, for a wonderful weekend, and for all of your hard work for such a worthy cause!

LZ