Happy Birthday to my wonderful friend

Yesterday was my friend Michelle's birthday! I made her a pretty simple card, but the big bow and button made it special. I dry embossed the lower part of the crumb cake card with the fun Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, then tied the wide striped grosgrain ribbon around and made my nice poufy bow. I tied the button (from the Deck the Halls big designer buttons collection) onto the bow with some linen thread and tied that in a bow. I then stamped "congratulations" from an old SAB set with cherry cobbler ink (that's my new favorite red - it's just gorgeous!)

I finished off the inside as well with the second part of the sentiment, and a small strip of Deck the Halls dsp. I was quite happy with the result, and I think Michelle was too!

Winter Marci in Fall colors

Howdy La-La fans, how is everyone today? I have to admit, it's been one heck of a week trying to get Jackson used to his new big-boy bed...and I'm exhausted! But...I know we'll get there!! In the meantime, I have found some time to keep playing with my wonderful Marci and Luka stamps. I was totally inspired by this card from Karen, because I just loved the colors she used, and I remembered I had this fabulous dp from my LSS (sorry, can't remember who makes it just now!) that would be perfect.

I stamped Winter Marci on a perfect panel from MFT, then stamped her again on the reverse side of this amazing floral print for the linen look burgundy to paper piece her coat and hat. I then used my W1 and W3 to add some shading to her coat - that works like a charm!! I colored in the rest of her, cut out the pieces and put her all together. Then, I cut her out with my label bazillion nestie (I can't keep track of anything these days!) and went to town with my sponges and some creamy caramel and true thyme inks.

I went for a very simple layout, and just added a strip of the reverse paper with some lace across the card, hten started playing wtih different buttons. I hadn't quite finished when my good friend and dealer Michelle came over with my jumbo button share from SU! It was EXACTLY what I needed!!

I finished off the inside with some more dp and a great SU! stamped greeting, and voila! Perfect fall bday card! So...what have YOU been creating with your LaLa Land stamps?? We'd love to see your creations, so please link them up on the LLLC blog here, and you could win some LaLa Loot! Have a fabulous day!

PWC125: Gotta be Square!

It's that time again...for our weekly Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge! This week, we're challenging you all to make it square! A square card. This was an easy one for me...since more than half my cards these days are square. but, since I knew it was the last Monday of the month, I figured I'd wait to do my card for this weeks Mojo Monday Circle or square sketch...and I'm glad I did!

I used our adorable new Tis the Season Sophia from our October stamp release - isn't she just darling just peeking through all those packages?? LOVE it!! I colored her with copics and cut her out with Nesties. Then, I pulled out my beloved Eskimos Kisses paper and got to work with the sketch! I don't usually mix this many patterns...but I think it works!

I added some liquid applique to her boots and the cuffs of her coat to give her a little added dimension, and slipped some clear tinsel from SU! behind her. Cute, no??

Of course, I finished the inside too. Now, head on over to the paper pretties blog to see all of this week's square creations from our amazing DT, and be sure to link up your OWN square cards to WIN a FREE Paper Pretties stamp set. Also while you're there...check out our new Digi Design team call - I mean, who can't use more stamps?!?

MFT WSC Gift item...

Good morning everyone, I hope you all are off to a good start! I finally got a chance to play along with the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge to make a gift bag or other packaging. I thought, I should make a gift bag for my coffee sleeve and matching card that was on Kim's blog here. So, off to work I went with my caffeine lovin' a la mode!!

I used Allison's sketch for LPS from this week to design the panel for my bag. I used the same colors as the original set (pink pirouette, kraft, chocolate chip and Pear pizzazz) Such a fun sketch to work with, and such a fun project! Thanks for all the fun challenges everyone!!

Papertrey October Blog Hop Challenge

I decided I need to stamp more (and clean less? Not sure the hubby would agree but oh well!) so I thought I'd play along with this month's PTI Blog Hop Challenge. The challenge was to make a card for a winter holiday NOT Christmas. That was easy for me. I have several athiest (or perhaps they are pagans?) friends who celebrate the Winter Solstice in place of any other religious holiday - and through the trees is perfect for that!

I stamped it with versamark on white cardstock, then embossed with clear ep. I brayered on some various blues/purples to make it look like white birch trees at night - perfect for winter solstice! I added the Peace from the old Snowflake Serenade set, embossed with white ep on my navy card base...added some white polkadot ribbon, and some h.s. ghost snowflakes and rhinestones and it was done!

Thanks for hopping through...I hope you enjoyed my Winter Solstice card!

Monday Whatnots...

Happy Monday everyone! I'm back this morning with a Monday Whatnot from Paper Pretties and ARTish - our newest line of images that's all digital! And what's not to love about these adorable new images? For today's card I used an image that was released last Monday, Baloo.  I totally fell in love with this image the first time I saw it since I have been stringing popcorn and cranberries for my Christmas tree since I was about 12!

So sweet and easy to work with, Baloo can be printed at any size you want...for a nice big image like I've got, or you can print it out much smaller to fit a little notecard. For my card I wanted a nice big, eye-catching image. I colored it with my copics, ten cut it out with my circle nestabilities.For the layout, I used this weekend's Sketch for You to Try by Jen del Muro - with just a few minor tweeks and my Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper.

I finished off the card with some bling, and I used some plain, clear rhinestones that I colored with my copic marker to match the cranberries - perfect huh?? Be sure to go check out the two adorable new images available today from ARTish and Paper Pretties over at the Paper Pretties blog, and have a wonderful Monday!

Julia's Leaves...

The latest challenge on the Children's challenge blog was to create something with leaves...either real leaves, stamps, etc. Julia decided to make some art using real leaves...and I love how it turned out!

She went out and picked some leaves from our bushes out front with her Nana, then glued them on some black cardstock.

Halloween Greeting Card Kid

I just loved this set...and HAD to have it once I saw it in the new SU! catty!! Thankfully, my dealer...err...good friend and stamper in crime Michelle was able to help assuage that need.

I ran the black through with the spider web embossing folder, then used some moonlight smooch to make it sparkle. I layered that on a pumpkin pie card base, then added the scalloped bit across the top which was cut with the Tasteful Trim die. Then I added the narrow grosgrain ribbon.

I colored the main image with my aquapainter and watercolor wonder crayons. I had stamped her with stazon onto watercolor paper...so it was great for watercoloring! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Bellarific Friday - sketch time!

WOW! I'm playing in a Bellarific Friday challenge...it's been a LONG while since I've done that. This week there's a fabulous sketch to use, and I finally got to ink up one of my neglected Mo Manning stamps. I love this image...makes me think of my little Jack on our wonderful Maisy dog. Of course, she would NEVER let him actually do this...although I think my brother's lab probably would!!

I stamped Buds-Boy on an MFT Perfect Panel with Momento black ink, then got busy with my copics. I keep wanting to try using my Prismacolor Pencils a la Linda Heavens (have you SEEN her amazing work??) but I keep chickening out! So...for this card I used just my markers, but I'm still quite happy with it. It's very difficult to shade with black (almost as difficult as to take a photo of a black pet - I know, I have 2!!) but I think I did ok!

After I finished coloring, and figuring out what papers I was going to use, and stitching (don't look too closely at that...still getting used to my new Pixie sewing machine!) I decided it needed a fun sentiment. I pulled this from my old MFT Friends Furever set, and bent the sentiment as I placed it on the block so it would curve right along the cut circle.

I finished off the inside too, with some more DP stitched onto white, and I added another sentiment from that same set inside.

Be sure to hit Blogabella to see all the various takes on this fun sketch today!

The Witching Hour...

The witching hour - every mother knows it! It's that last hour before "daddy" comes home and rescues us from our angelic children who are tossing every toy they own all around the house while screaming at the top of their lungs. You know that time...when you're pulling out what little hair you have left and hoping there's a chilled bottle of wine in the fridge. Now we have Witch Marci to help us get through that last hour, because we won't care how messy the house is while we're coloring her!! :-)

Witch Marci is just adorable, and so much fun to color!! For my card today, I used the great Halloween stack from Basic Grey, along with the matching chipboard stickers, some fun fuzzy spiders and a killer rhinestone spider web.

I really love coloring in these new Marci stamps. They are nice and big (this is a 6 by 6 card!) so that you have lots of open space for all that fun shading.

I finished off the inside too...with some more basic grey paper and a happy Halloween sticker from last year's $pot at Target. Gotta love those good buys!! Have a wonderful Thursday...and make sure you've got that bottle of wine all chilled! :-)

Have a very Prettie Birthday, Heather!

Today we are celebrating Heather's birthday, Prettie style! We're hopping along with our birthday wishes to our fearless leader! If you didn't get here from Jackie's, then head on back to Cindy's blog so you see all the wonderful Birthday Wishes from the DT.

I used the adorable Dog-Gone Birthday for Heather's card, and paired  him with some Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper. Isn't it sweet?? I love all those cupcakes on there!!

 I colored this little doggie with my copics (lots of E's) and then cut him out with my deckle edge oval nestie. I added a nice big boy wtih some red gingham ribbon.

I also finished off the inside with some more paper and one of the sweet sentiments from this fabulous set (along with the little doggy paw prints!) I hope this has arrived at Heather's today, and that she's enjoying it! Now keep on hopping to Jane's blog to see what gorgeous creation she has for Heather today! And don't forget to leave some birthday love for Heather at the end of the hop!

PWC124: Green, Orange and Purple??

Well, when I saw the color challenge for today's Paper Pretties Weekly Challenge I thought "Oh my!" But then I realized that they are perfect halloween colors!

I figured the  Wicked Old Bird set would be perfect, and got busy coloring her in. I then used this week's Mercy sketch for the layout, and my Matilda mini deck of papers from Cosmo Cricket for the various layers.

I punched out the greeting with my spellbinders tag die, and also finished off the inside. Now it's all set to send off to a friend with a good sense of humor!

We'd love to have you play along with us...for all the info on how to play (and to upload your card) head on over to the Paper Pretties blog...YOU could win a free Paper Pretties stamp set for your very own!!

MFT Wednesday stamp Club...for the Boys!I

I finally got it done - just under the wire too! As soon as I saw the Wednesday stamp club challenge this week I knew what I wanted to do. I think I'll have to send this card to my brother since it's something we used to indulge in constantly growing up!

Don't these two Pure Innocence characters look adorable? They just belong together...and she's being a little mischievous today. I stamped them on a perfect panel, and colored them with my copics. Then I freehand cut the tree from some chocolate chip CS. I swiped a white craft inkpad onto the tree, then sponged some chocolate chip ink onto the other side to give it some shadow and dimension. Lastly, I added some polar white flower soft to make the snowy ground

I used some Basic Grey paper for the background, and added a die-namics cut snowflake on top of a Heidi Swapp ghost snowflake, with a glittery brad in the center, then I added the sentiment from the Candy Cane Kisses a la mode set.

I of course finished off the inside as well...and you can see she made her decision and let the snowball fly. For the inside, I used a sentiment and snowflakes from the mini set which came with last month's VIP kit.

Monday Whatnots from Paper Pretties...What's not to love?!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! We have some exciting things going on at Paper Pretties! Today I have the wonderful opportunity of introducing you to Paper Pretties newest Illustrator...ARTish! ARTish will be joining our team as both an illustrator and as a design team member! For her full bio, check out the "Our Team" section of the Paper Pretties store.

With the addition of ARTish to our team, we are also adding a new weekly release! ARTish's images are going to be digital downloads and we will be releasing at least 2 new digi images every single Monday....They will be called "Paper Pretties Monday Whatnots...What's not to love!".

ARTish's illustration style is such a perfect fit with our Paper Pretties family! If you love to color you will LOVE her images!

Since today is our first official Paper Pretties Monday Whatnots, we are releasing 6 awesome digi images by ARTish! All 6 new images are available in the digital stamp section of the Paper Pretties store!

The 6 ARTish digis that are being released today are: BALOO, BOB, CLAUS, COCOA, FELICE, and HALLEY.

You can see some samples over on the Paper Pretties blog...I haven't had a chance to make one yet with 2 sick kids all weekend and a husband out of town...thank goodness my parents are still here or I would have gone berserk!!

And if you haven't checked already...the winners from the new release blog hop have been posted - check to see if you were one of them!!!

Paper Pretties has new Holiday Stamps!

Today is the day of releases!! Be sure to scroll down after finishing this post to see my new LaLa Land Crafts release as well!!

If you've just arrived from Jackie's blog and her gorgeous Holiday Fairy Meg card, you're in the right spot for some more Paper Pretties new release goodness! If not, then head on back to the Paper Pretties blog so you don't miss out on anything! There are some fabulous stamps in this release, and I know you'll love them! I get to share with you a card I made with the new O Christmas Tree set.

I used this week's Monday Mojo sketch (she's already up to # 160 - amaszing isn't it?) for my layout...and I went a little out of my comfort zone with lots of glitter, embossing, techniques, and embellies. I first embossed the beautiful swirly tree with gold embossing powder on my artichoke cs, then I painted inside it with some bleach (I must love you all, because I HATE bleach!!) I added some rhinestones which I had colored with a copic marker (that is SOOO cool!) and then I stamped the star with my glue pad and adhered some gold glass glitter. I then folded up part of the white cs to look like a snowdrift and covered that with white glass glitter.

To keep with the sketch, I added the 2 white brads, and then to be different I added the sentiment near the bottom. I used soem basic grey paper (I forget which collection, but I'm sure Allison could tell me!) and some red cardstock on top of gold. I have to say this set is lots of fun to work with, and I can't wait to see what YOU all come up with!

For this release, Heather is once again giving away one each of the 7 new sets. In order to be eligible to win, you must leave a comment on EVERY stop of the hop...then all those will be put in a hat and names drawn. Good luck! Now keep on hoping to Jane's blog to see what amazing things she's created to share with us all, and tell her I said "hi!"

New Caroling Luka is out!

I've got two release hops today, so be sure to scroll around to see BOTH of the projects I have to share today!!

Here's Caroling Luka! Isn't he a doll? If you've arrived from Karen's blog you're in the right spot, but if you've just arrived, then head on back to Irina's blog so you don't miss out on any of the gorgeous creations of our DT!

This new Luka is SOOO sweet! I had so much fun coloring him to match this fabulous American Crafts paper! I thought he was perfect with the lines of holiday houses behind him. Look...his face is all pink from the frosty weather as he's out singing Carols to the neighbors!

I also finished off the inside of the card...cute no? The sentiments I used for this card both came from Paper Pretties...don't they work perfectly? Now...before you head along to the next stop on the hop, be sure to leave a comment so you can be entered to win the fabulous blog candy Irina is giving to one lucky winner, with Basic Grey paper and embellies, nestabilities, primas and of course a fabulous LaLa land Stamp, you can't go wrong! Be sure to leave a comment on every stop along the way to be entered to win, and for more chances, like LaLa Land on Facebook, and post about this blog candy to YOUR blog, or on your favorite crafting site to let others in on the fun! Leave us a message on THIS POST to let us know you've done that for your extra chances!! We'll choose a winner on Tuesday morning so as to give you time to spread the word!

Now keep on hoping to see what amazing creation Cheryl has to share with you all today...I know I will!

Ahoy there Matey!

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm back with a fun Pirate Luka card for you all today from LaLa Land Crafts. My little Jackson turned 2 just under 2 weeks ago now, and he had a pirate party! I had colored this Luka to use for that, but then ran out of time to do more...so I finally created a card with him this week!

I colored Luka with my Copics, then I used some MFT mini bradlets for the buttons on his coat. Don't you just love them?? The fabulous paper is again from the SU! Newsprint DSP pack (thanks Michelle for helping me out!!) and the layout is this week's Sketch for You to try from Jen del Muro. Super fun, isn't it??

I'm going to tell you all a little secret...there's something new coming from LaLa Land tomorrow...so be sure to come back and see!! You'll be singing with glee and skating on clouds!

I'll leave you with a photo of MY little pirate, Captain Jack! Have a wonderful day!

PWC123: Black, White and...you choose!

This week's Paper Pretties Weekly Challenge is a color challenge, to use white, black and a 3rd color of your choice. I decided to once again go for a black and white colored image for this challenge...and I LOVE the result! Caroling Cooper (isn't he adorable?? You can get him for your very own on Friday!) looks fabulous in this retro black and white look.

I used the fun Newsprint dsp from SU! because I knew I wanted to use the music staff paper. Perfect with this little guy, isn't it? And with that nice touch of red...he's all ready for the holidays! And don't you love those glimmer brads??

Be sure to head over to the Paper Pretties Blog to see ALL the amazing work of the DT this week, and don't forget we'll have 8 new stamps for you on Friday!

Prettie Peeks for the Holiday!

Prettie Peeks have started again...and we've got some more FABULOUS stamps coming your way this Friday! You will LOVE them!! Today, I get to show-off this adorable new Holiday Polly set. Isn't he just darling?

I used this week's Sweet Sunday sketch from Karen Giron...she does such great sketches!! I pulled out my new Cosmo Cricket Mitten weather mini deck...and then used some brushed gold cardstock with it. I really love this old fashioned look! Of course...I finished the card, took the photos and started writing this and realized - OOPS, I forgot 2 important steps. Can you spot the difference between the top photo (taken after changes were made) and the one below?

I used some stickles on the poinsettia to tie in more gold, and I added some caramel cream ink sponged on, as well as the liquid applique to his hat. I think the stepped up version is MUCH better!

Be sure to go check out all the sneak peeks today over on the Paper Pretties Blog...I'll have another peek for you tomorrow, then be sure to come back Friday for the release hop!

I'm a Fab Friend?!?

I'm sure you all can imagine how excited I was to get an email from Kim inviting me to be a "Fab Friend" for the MFT blog. I LOVE the MFT stamps and have for years. I've also met the wonderful Kim in person several times, and she's such a fabulous person, with a wonderful family! So of course after getting her email and squealing with delight, I immediately wrote back saying I would LOVE to be her Fab Friend!!

In addition to the project I made for the MFT blog, I made a couple more projects with some recently acquired MFT stamps to share with you all here. This first one uses the brand new a la modes Candy Cane Kisses. She was super fun to color with my copics...and I paired her up with last year's Basic Grey Christmas collection of papers.

I especially love this sentiments with this set..."Naughty or Nice? Decisions, decisions..." is VERY me!! And check out those boots...I suppose my husband would love it if THOSE were very me! ;-) They definitely match the sentiment.

Kim sent me the adorable new L'il Pumpkin PI (I think she's sold out...sorry!) and I just love her. I actually wanted the digi image of this last year, but didn't get it before it was removed - I had seen it on Jody Morrow's blog. I decided to pull out my Pumpkin Nesties and make a cute little shaped card for her. I added some green for the stem, and even a few paper curls for vines.

I finished off the inside too with one of the sentiments! LOVE this set. Oh...and did you see all the rest of this latest release?? Kim is gonna get me in BIG TIME trouble over here with dh...the new Die-namics are to DIE for, and all that cuteness in the stamps? Oh well...you can't take it with you, right?

Have a wonderful. day everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Kim!

We have another birthday in LaLa Land today! (October's a pretty busy month...guess you go back 40 weeks and you're right around Christmas/New Year's time...HMMM!)

Kim, it's your Birthday!!

We all hope Kim's birthday is spectacular. Be sure to go check out her walk of fame on the LLLC blog today, and leave her some birthday love over on her amazing blog!

Julia's been busy again...

Julia is loving these Children's Challenges, especially since she WON last time!! Her new stamps from Kim arrived yesterday, and she was so excited!

Here is her card for the current challenge, to create a card using patterned paper!

she used Tuffy for this card, along with some cupcakes from the Super Heros window set! Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Karen!!

It's the amazing Karen's birthday, and we're celebrating over at the LaLa land Blog with a Walk of Fame! Go check out some of Karen's AMAZING work, and then be sure to leave her some birthday love at her blog!!

Happy Friday!

Football Luka goes Nostalgic

I decided I wanted to try this black and white technique again, and that football Luka would be perfect to try it with. His outfit is very reminescent of the football uniforms of old...and it made me think of my dad when he played football in college. So here is, all dressed up in his Maine Black Bears uniform!

I used some fun October Afternoon paper "Norm's News" (both sides of it for the newsprint and the houndstooth.) I used Jen DelMuro's Sketch for You to Try from this week for the layout, and punched the sides of the rectangle with the notepage punch.

I added the sentiment from the new Cheerleader and Football Digi Sentiment set to finish off the card. If you haven't been over to check out all the new stamps yet, be sure you do...they are amazing!!