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!!

Introducing NEW Luka stamp!

I have new Luka and Marci stamps to share with you today...they are FABULOUS! I am so in love with Luka - he's just adorable and SOOO much fun to color! We have Luka with Truck (the stamp I got to play with today shown below) Football Luka, and Winter Marci. Also, we've got a great set of digital sentiments for you that are perfect to go with Cheerleader Marci and Football Luka - you'll LOVE them!

I got my color inspiration from this fabulous Tuesday Afternoon paper (Li'l Man) and went with blues, oranges, reds and browns.

I colored Luka with my copics, and used this week's great sketch from Mercy for my layout. I added some ribbon slides to spell out Jack as well...a perfect card for my little man who just turned 2!

Be sure to go to the LaLa Land Crafts Blog to see all the great new stamps, and some fabulous samples for each of them!! Then, head on over to the Boutique to get YOUR stamps!

PWC122: Sketch time!

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and you all know what that means? Yup...another Paper Pretties sketch from our very own Frances! I love Frances' sketches usuallly...but I must admit this one had me stumped for a while!

Then...I remembered this wonderful stamp set Summer Fun and knew it would be perfect! I love all these fun summer images to go with our summer themed Sophia and Cooper stamps - they work perfectly together! I colored my images with copics, the added some SU! dsp along with my red, yellow and turquoise cardstock and I was good to go! One last summer hurrah before I officially give it over to fall.

Be sure to visit the Paper Pretties blog to see all the amazing creations from the design team today using Frances sketch...and we'd love to see what YOU do with the sketch! Upload your creation, and you could win a fabulous Paper Pretties stamp set! And while you're there, check out the design team call - wouldn't YOU like to be a Prettie Girl too??? Come and join us, you'll have a blast!

Super Cupcake to the Rescue!

Have you all SEEN the new Super Cupcake Marci?? Is she not the CUTEST stamp you've ever seen?!? I so love her!! I have these adorable chipboard cupcake pieces from Mike's that I haven't used yet, so I thought I'd make a big Cupcake tag using one.

I covered the bottom part with some cute dp I recently bought at my LSS (it has cupcakes on the other side, so you'll be seeing more of it!) and then I made some fun pink liquid applique by using my white and adding some regal rose reinker to it. I added that to the top of the cupcake, sprinkled it with some chunky glitter, let it dry a bit, then heated it up to make it puffy. Looks just like frosting...cool huh?

I colored Marci with my copics and cut her out to add her to the tag, then I decided she needed a friend, so I colored in a Tuffy too. Isn't s/he adorable? Here Tuffy is sporting a pink color, so I think he's actually a she here, but s/he's pretty versatile! Lastly, I colored some flowers with my copic markers to layer and add to my cupcake.

Have you been having fun with the new Marci and Luka stamps? We'd LOVE to see what you've created. Be sure to link them up in our Customer Gallery. You never know...you could win the honor of being our Customer of the Month!

PWC121: Animal Style

This week's challenge from Paper Pretties is to go Animal style - use an animal stamp, or animal print paper or texture on your project. since we just released this adorable new Horse stamp and I hadn't had a chance to play with him yet, I knew this was the perfect oppportunity!

 Horsin' Around is such a fun stamp. I love the expression on this guy's face...and the flower is adorable!! I colored him in with my copic markers, then cut the image out with a new labels nestabilities set. LOVE this new shape!! For the layout, I went with this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

I also made this card for Carolyn King's Heart to Heart drive. She's got an amazing lineup of sponsors for this HUGE giveaway (pretty much, all the big names in stamping are represented - including Paper Pretties!!) To enter, you have to make (and send) a card to someone who works with Alzheimer's patients. My aunt is one of those people, and she's been doing this for several years now. I've actually visited her at work when back in Maine, and she is so patient and kind (just like she was with me as a child) with her patients...I know she's perfect for these folks! And, I'm also sending some cards that I've made (and that Julia my daughter has made) for her to give to her patients...because I know how much THEY love getting cards too!

So...go make your own Animal-style card to enter into OUR contest, then send it to someone working with Alzheimer's patients to enter into Carolyn's contest too. It will double your chances of getting some free Paper Pretties stamps to play with!!

Paper Pretties blog Candy Winners...

Good evening everyone, here are the blog candy winners from each blog of our release hop:

Cindy Haffner's blog candy winner ...Tina ...She wins Horsin Around

Frances Byrne's blog candy winner ...Silke Ledlow...She wins Wicked Old Bird

Jackie Rakoski's blog candy winner ...The Stamper's Touch...She wins Halloween Fairy Elle

Jana Weaver's blog candy winner ...Shelby Goolsby...She wins Pirate Cooper

Jane Matsumoto's blog candy winner ...marywebb...She wins Thank You Teacher Sophia

Jennifer Greco's blog candy winner ...Kristine Reynolds...She wins Hang in There

Jessica George's blog candy winner ...Crystal...She wins Cluck Part II

Pam Varnell's blog candy winner ...Toni K...She wins Fall Cooper

Wendy Hoff' blog candy winner ...Delia Cruz...She wins Witch Sophia

Heather Lee-Reppen's blog candy winner ...nessy...She wins Everyday Lily

Congratulations to all of the winners! Please send an email to Heather at hlrcrafts@gmail.com with your mailing address and she will get these sent out right away!

Thanks again for hopping along with us!

Julia's bookmark..

Julia made a bookmark to participate in the most recent Children's challenge using my new Star Boy Luka from LaLa Land stamps. Isn't it awesome?? she's getting so good at cutting out her images...and she used two shades on his hair to add some shadows!! She also added Luka's fun dog, Tuffy!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Yo-ho-ho and a ton of new STAMPS!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm so excited to present Pirate Cooper, one of 10 amazing new stamp sets being released TODAY by Paper Pretties! There are so many fun new fall/Halloween themed sets being released, there's something for everyone! We're hopping along, so if you didn't just arrive from Jackie's blog, head on back to the beginning at Cindy's place!

I was thrilled to get to use Pirate Cooper for today's card, because my little guy LOVES pirates. If you ask him "what does a pirate say?" he responds with "aaaaahhhhhh" (which is as close to argh as he can get so far!) And, in just over a week he's having a Pirate themed birthday party to celebrate turning 2.

For this card, I colored Cooper in with my copics (of course) and used that fun All About Boys DCWV stack of papers and some fun vintage brads that look a little like compasses! And Cooper has a wonderful bird for his parrot - it's an Eclectus parrot - one of my favorites!! And do you like the way I cut the sentiment out and curved it around my oval? I do! :-)

I added another of the sentiments from the set on the inside...this set comes with lots of great greetings!! anyone out there want to WIN this set??? Just leave me a comment before Sunday at 5pm CST and YOU could WIN! Winners will all be announced on the Paper Pretties blog on Sunday night. Good luck!! Now keep on hopping to Jane's blog and see what she's got for you all using an adorable new Sophia!

Pumpkin Marci, cutie Pie!

I really love all the new Marci and Luka stamps!! This little cutie pie is Pumpkin Marci! She's alraedy started trick or treating, and has her lollypop to help her keep going!

I colored her with my copics...pretty standard Pumpkin colors, and then added some Basic Grey halloween papers to the card.  These new stamps are so nice and big and fun to color - plenty of room to move your markers around and get the perfect shading!!

I also finished off the inside with a rub-on greeting. Such a nice finishing touch! I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday, and if you haven't been over to check out all the latest Marci and Luka stamps yet...what are you waiting for?? Have fun Shopping!!!

The New LaLa Land Stamps are here!!!

Did you all check out the sneak peeks on the LLLC Blog yesterday? Oh my gosh...can you believe the cuteness? Hopefully you arrived here from Jan's blog...but if not head on back to Irina's so you don't miss any of the adorable new stamps we have for you today!! In case you get lost along the hop...here's the full list of the team in order of the hop!

Irina

1Luvn Mama

Cheryl

Eva

Jan

Jana - You are HERE

Karen

Kim

Kristine

Lisa

Shantaie
LaLa Land Crafts Blog

So, I'm guessing you all want to see my card? I'm showcasing Super Star, Luka's secret identity! Isn't he just the cutest thing since my own little guy? I really LOVE coloring these new Marci and Luka stamps. They are so much fun to work with - so much room to color...it's amazing!

Here's Super Star looking out the window watching for crime to stop! He's ready to soar into action at a moments notice. This week's Sketch For You To Try was perfect for these two sets together. The new Super Hero Window set comes with this fabulous round window (perfectly sized to be cut with the largest die from Standard Circles Small Nestabilites set) and several sentiments and extra images to match both Super Star and Super Cupcake. I have to say...these are my favorite Marci and Luka stamps so far...and the window just adds the perfect backdrop for them!!

Now, be sure to keep hopping along to Karen's blog...I happen to know she has an AMAZINGLY cute card to share with you all! Happy hopping...then on to the SHOPPING!

PWC120: Ribbon Mania!

Today's Paper Pretties Weekly Challenge was issued by me - to use 3 different ribbons on your card. Now...I love ribbon...but it was challenging even for me to use three different kinds - especially since I wanted a more masculine card today. Alas...I think I did ok. Not a real masculine card, but still good for the ladies who help my little boy so much (his wonderful therapists at California Children's Services!)

I just LOVE Cooper, and this newest Cooper is no exception. Here he is jumping into a big pile of leaves. Growing up in Maine, my brother and I actually did this quite regularly - especially since it was often our job to rake said leaves up anyway.

I wanted a softer look to the pile of leaves, so I decided to watercolor the image this time...that way I could do a simple wash over the pile, then highlight individual leaves with stronger color. I'm quite happy with the result! My three ribbons are chocolate chip wide grosgrain under a moss colored gingham, and then the linen thread I used in the button (that counts as a ribbon in my book!!)

Be sure to head over to the Paper Pretties blog to see all the wonderful creations of the design team today. And upload your be-ribboned card for a chance to win a FREE STAMP SET!!! Lastly, don't forget all these adorable new stamps we're showcasing this week will be available on THIS FRIDAY, September 24th!

Paper Pretties new release peek...

Halloween is right around the corner, and Paper Pretties has some great new stamps for you! This adorable new Halloween Fairy Elle is just fabulous fun to play with!

I colored her with my copics then added lots of sparkly to her wings...because of course a fairy's wings sparkle, right?? I love this Basic Grey paper, and the colors worked perfectly! The sentiments that come with her are just gorgeous...I LOVE this gothic look font!

Be sure to head over to hte Paper Pretties blog to see all of the peeks for today, and come back tomorrow for another peek, and our weekly challenge!

Ballerina Marci is twirling in...

I hope you all have been enjoying the new Marci stamps as much as we have! Today I'm sharing the Ballerina Marci stamp...she's so beautiful and delicate. She looks just like my daughter did for her ballet recital - when she decided dance was not for her!

You can see my beautiful rolled felt roses - I used the fun new Dyenamics Die from MFT to create those - aren't they gorgeous?!? I used the leaves from the SU! Sweet Pea felt kit to add some more color. And the silk ribbon is so luscious - I love it!!

I colored her with my copics as usual, and add some bling to her bun up top. This image is so much fun to use - even though I no longer have a ballerina in my household, I'm sure I'll go back to it many times!

Be sure to go check the LaLa Land Crafts blog today to see what images are being highlighted - and be sure to keep leaving comments there - you could win the entire Halloween release!!

Birthday Marci

Introducing, for the first time in Rubber, Birthday Marci!

I like my digi stamps...but I have to admit rubber is way better in my book! and while you CAN do paper piecing with printed images, it is SOOO much easier with rubber. Paper Piecing is like playing with paper dolls all over again, and I love it! So, as soon as I got my rubber stamps, I knew I had to do some paper piecing with this sweetie!

I used my Cosmo Cricket Material Girl mini deck for papers...and this week's awesome Sweet Stop Sketch #73 for the layout. Marci was colored with my copics and cut out so she coudl stand on TOP of the ribbon.

Head on over to the LaLa Land Blog to see more adorable Birthday Marci creations today...and then if you haven't already picked up your Marci stamps - head to the Boutique. If you buy all 5 new Marci stamps you'll get her adorable Panda for FREE!!

Marci is HERE!

Well...I know you've all been waiting patiently for this little sweetie to be available in rubber, and today is THE day! I really love these new Marci stamps, and I know you will too! Be sure to head on over to the La-La Land blog to see some great samples with ALL the new stamps, and keep checking back all week as we feature a different Marci each day.

For today, I created this fun and simple card using Marci with Rose. She is such a sweet and easy to use stamp. She looks good in any color, with any patterns! You may remember my black and white Marci with Rose from here, so how versatile she is? On this 4.25" square card, she takes up a big portion of the real estate, so she's perfect for nice simple cards!

Be sure to hit the La-La Land Crafts Boutique today...we've got a special going if you buy all 5 of the new Marci stamps, you'll get her sweet little Panda bear stamp for FREE! And if you're local to this area, come see the new stamps at Cranberry Hill Mercantile this afternoon...Irina will be there, and so will I (for a little while at least!) I'd love to see ya!! Irina will be there from 4-7pm...don't miss out on all the fun!

PWC119: Gettin' Glitzy!

This week's Paper Pretties Weekly Challenge is to create a card using glitter dots, rhinestones or pearls. Since I couldn't find my glitter dots under the pile that is my desk...I settled for some rhinestones!

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch (pretty much) and my lovely Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper to create my card this week. I took a few liberties with the sketch...bit I think it all works! This is one of my FAVORITE Sophia's ever...she just looks so dang happy! No wonder she's called Celebrate Sophia. And with 5 sentiments with her, she'll work for almost any occasion, like this cheer-up card!

We've got a new release of Paper Pretties stamps coming up...so keep your eyes peeled for some Prettie Peeks coming soon! And for now, head on over to the Paper Pretties blog to see ALL of the team's creations, and to upload your own sparkly card for your chance to win a free stamp set!

SU! Halloween card

My friend (and SU! demo) Michelle has a cool contest on her facebook page right now to upload your SU! creations for a chance to win a prize. I recently punched a bunch of bats for another friend, and had to use some myself...so this is what I came up with!

The old olive frame has been in my scraps folder for almost a year...I have many! They are from when I made pencil topers for Julia's classmates for Halloween LAST year. The dp is from this year's new Halloween paper, and the stamp is from the fun new Halloween set I just got.

Thanks Michelle for getting me using my SU! stuff too!!!

Happy Birthday Jessica!

It's another Prettie Birthday Celebration...and this time it's for Jessica!!

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!

Keep on hoppin' to Jane's blog to see her birthday wishes for Jessica today, then at the end be sure to leave some Birthday Love for Our Amazingly Talented Jess!

Go Cal!

Hooray, Cal football had their first victory on Saturday. Of course, they were only playing UC Davis, so I can't get too excited yet. I keep hoping they'll get to go to the Rose Bowl so I'll finally have an excuse to go to the Tournament of Roses parade!!! I mean...if he can spend whatever it takes to go to the game, I can spend the small amount for a seat at the parade...right?! :-)

In honor of Cal's crushing victory, I have for you Cheerleader Marci all dressed up in her Blue and Gold! Isn't she adorable?? I truly love the old fashioned pleated skirt she's wearing...reminds me of cheerleaders when I was in school! (Not that I ever was one...I was more a jock!)

You can still get Cheerleader Marci as a digi stamp for now...but don't worry we'll have her for you in rubber in just 6 more days, on September 15th, along with all her Marci sisters!

Have you been playing with the new Marci digi stamps? Be sure to upload your creations here - you might win our Customer of the Month award - and get a free stamp! Check out all the details here!

PWC118: Hoooow about some brads?

Good morning everyone...wow...it really is Wednesday already isn't it? Here I was thinking I was ahead of the game and then this morning realized, oh no...TODAY is Wednesday! Yikes!! So...my post is a little late this morning!

This week's Paper Pretties Challenge (should you care to accept it!) is to use brads or eyelets on your project. I whipped up this cute little owl card on Monday (see, I WAS ahead of the game originally!) and love how it turned out! These owls are from a new set, Give a Hoot, which Paper Pretties released last month, and they are just so sweet!

Head on over to the Paper Pretties blog to see all of this week's Prettie Girl creations, and to link up your own project...you could win a fun new Paper Pretties stamp set!!!

A very late Anniversary Card...

My DH and I spent our anniversary apart this year (it was while I was back in Maine) but we did celebrate a month later, when our dear Nanny Julia came and stayed with the kids overnight and we had a mini getaway! Of course, I had to make him a card, and so I went to SCS and searched on Anniversary cards, and found this amazing card by angelsparkly to case! Isn't it gorgeous?? I went through all my sunset photos and found a few to print out, and this was my favorite (I love the colors, and the seagrass off to the left!)

It was super simple, just stamp the outline image on the photo then color it in with a black sharpie to create the silhouette. It's an old SU! stamp, Summer by the Sea, along with a newer SU! set for the sentiment. He loved it (one of the few cards where he was like "how'd you do that?" love when that happens!!)

Hope you all have enjoyed your holiday weekend here in the US!

Happy Birthday Pam!!!

Good morning everyone, it's another Paper Pretties Birthday, and this time we're celebrating with a new Prettie Girl, Pam! Unfortunately, I don't have a card for her today...but I hope your day is awesome Pam!!

Now keep on hopping to Jane's blog, and don't forget to leave some Birthday Love for Pam when you finish hopping along!

Have a wonderful day!
-Jana

Marci wtih Rose is oh soo sweet!

I just love all these adorable new Marci stamps! And this week's release is no exception! Meet Marci with Rose. She has such an old-world quality to her, I couldn't resist doing her as a black and white image (and the fact that I saw some work Marci creator Irina had done with this technique recently  - WOW!) This card just makes me think of my mom, who recently attended her 51st high school reunion.

I used this fun black and white houndstooth Norm's News paper from October Afternoon, along with some Pink Pirrouette from SU! I colored Marci with just a handful of copics, W1, 3, 5 and 7 and then R000, R00 and R11. I didn't think I could pull off the black and white look, and was pleasantly surprised with the results!

Marci with Rose is currently available in the digi-shop of the La-La Land Crafts Boutique--for those who can't wait for her September 15th debut in rubber--alongside cheerleader Marci. And don't forget to upload your La-La Land Crafts creations to the customer page and you could WIN by being our customer of the month!