For the Boys

Hey All,

This past week was March Break for my big girls and hubby also took the week off.  I can't believe how fast it went by!  We headed to the hills on the Monday-Tuesday and the big girls practiced their snowboarding/skiing skills.  They improved so much with every run!  I'm soooo proud of them!  It's like I always say...if you're going to live in Canada, you've GOT to enjoy the snow.  No sense being miserable for 1/4 of the year.  I'm even happier now that we've got this new family favourite to share!  YAY!  My sister came down to spend some time on Thursday and Friday.  We spent alot of that time shopping (my sister wanted to take the big girls shopping to congratulate them on a good mid-term report card).  Target just opened up in my neck of the woods and we decided to go see what all the hype was about now that they've crossed the border.  I've been to a Target a couple times in the US.  I was quite disappointed at the prices and selection they had in the Target here.  There was no craft section and the storage section was very dismal.  Not impressed.  I'm hoping they're still just getting their feet wet and soon they'll actually dive in with the good stuff.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Sooooo....onto some creative goodness!  Boys do not tend to be a popular theme at my home but I decided to take on the "Retro Fresh All About the Boys" challenge this week over at The Greeting Farm Blog.

This card I made using a Greeting Farm stamp: Edward.  The gear background embossing folder is from Provocraft called clockworks.  The die cut gears is from Spellbinders (Sprightly Sprockets), the sentiment is from Simons Says Stamp and the patterned paper is from MME.

I paper pieced his shirt and pants.  His pants are from a piece of natural coloured canvas I coloured brown using a copic marker.  I used Glossy Accents on the "you" and his shoes to add some shine.

 The based the layout of this card on a sketch from the Simon Says Stamp Challenge this Week: Choose a Sketch.

I decided to flip the sketch in the horizontal plane and used it that way.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge this Week: Choose a Sketch.

One Crazy Stamper: Anything Goes 

The Greeting Farm: Retro Fresh All About the Boys

The Greeting Farm: Sparkle and Shine

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz

Body Swap...and a Colour Challenge

Hey Everyone,

Like I said, March is a big month for birthdays around here.  Here is a card I made for a friend of mine who celebrates today!  I was keeping with the brown and blue colour challenge over at The Greeting Farm Challenge Blog Double Take Tuesday.  I loved the comfy couch in the Sitting Casual set but I wanted the sitter to be a Ruby.  Sooooo....I did a body swap.  I used the body on the boy that came with the Sitting Casual Set and then used Ruby's head.  I got this idea from Jo over at the Greeting Farm Blog.  It really gives you even more ways to use your stamps!  Super Cool!

Ruby's little shirt was made from a piece of fabric I had that I loved which I thought would add a little splash to the blue and brown.  The "absolutely" was die cut from a Simon Says Stamp die and the sentiment is also from Simon Says Stamp. 

Thanks for dropping by!
Liz

Bit O' Green (Part 2)

Here is card 2 for Simon Says Stamp Bit O' Green Challenge.

This card started from a card map I got from CardMaps 2 book.  I used paper from my scrap stash.  The castle is from a Quickutz die, the butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and the label is an EK Success punch.  I love the whimsical feel of this card and all the pretty colours.

Bit O' Green...

Hey Everyone!

So, my 2 year old crawled out of her crib a couple nights ago.  She did it so stealthily.  I heard her crying (I was 2 rooms away in the office) and I tip-toed over to her room and opened the door super slowly to check in on her.  She's been waking up every couple of nights between 11 and midnight crying but manages to fall back asleep on her down within a couple minutes.  When I peered into her room through the tiny crack in the door way the door swung open and there she was!  She pulled the door open and stood there teary eyed asking to be picked up!  Freaked me out!  I didn't hear a single sound prior to her crying.  No loud bang or creak or rattle...nothing.  And we have hardwood floors so it's not the easiest thing to conceal such sounds.   Growing too fast I tell ya!  Although, her being the absolute monkey of my 3 kids at this age-climbing anything and everything she can-I'm surprised it took her this long to climb out of her crib.  C1 climbed out just before her 1st birthday and C2 climbed out around 18months.  I guess she was due.  :/

Meanwhile, as it turns out, March is quite the busy, busy month for birthdays around here!  Just in time for Simon Says Stamps Newest Challenge: Bit 'O Green.  Here are a couple cards I made that fit this bill (see next post for card 2)!  They are cards I made for my friends' daughters.  The sweeties are little ones in kindergarten so I made them colourful and full of pretty patterns and fun (and a bit 'o green)!

This card came together super fast.  I used scrap paper from my stash and square punched them with a scalloped punch.  Then I cut the squares from each corner to almost the middle and folded down alternating corners.  They are secured to the middle with some glue and a jewel brad.  The stamp is from Hampton Arts and the letters stickers are from Making Memories.  The embossing folder in the back is from Provocraft.

Thanks for dropping by!
Liz

4 Birds/One Stone-Woo Hoo!

Hey Everyone,

The sun is shining bright in my neck of the woods today...deceiving...it's bitter cold out there!  At least it was warm in my little craft room with creative juices flowing! I really should be tidying up around here!  took some time off work to try and de-clutter the house and clean out the basement (which is reaching intervention proportions!) in hopes to get it all finished down there...later.  Right now I'd like to share with you a little creation I made that happens to fulfill 4 challenge blogs out there!  Wowzers!  New for me but hopefully not a rare occurance!  I LOVE getting inspiration in all the corners of the interweb and having it all get the creativity in gear!  Shout out to all those blogs out there that stimulate this!
I was driving to the grandparents with my C3 this morning and they wanted to keep her for the day!  (who am I to deny them seeing their granddaughter!)  Perfect opportunity to get stuff done!  In the traffic jam I encountered on the highway on the way home the concept for the colouring of this stamp popped into my head.  I wasn't sure if it was possible but thought it would be pretty cool if it worked.  Let me know what y'all think!  I like the abstractness of it.  It's different that's for sure!  This is the Greeting Farm Stamp I used.  I'm hoping you can make it out...but just in case....

I stamped the Angel Anya Greeting Farm stamp with vintage sepia ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.   (I originally tried this with no embossing and it didn't turn out quite so well.  It was difficult to make out the image.)  Then with a pencil I lightly traced a curvy checkerboard pattern over the image then then coloured the alternating spaces with brown and blue Chromatix markers by American Crafts.  It's important to have markers with a fine tip and these worked perfect!  The flourish is from a Bo Bunny clear stamp set, the sentiments are from Simon Says Stamp, the background stamp is from Hero Arts and the die is from Spellbinders.  The hat pin is from the clearance section at Michaels and I added the pennant and the brad is from Making Memories).  

I would like to submit this card in the following challenges:

The Greeting Farm Double Take Tuesday: Colour Challenge-Blue and Brown

Cardabilities: Sketch Challenge #70

A Blog Named Hero: Make Your Own (stamped sentiment ribbons)

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz

New Challenge Blog on the Block-Sister Act

Hey All,

There's a new card challenge blog on the block over at Sister Act and they are looking for their inaugural design team!  Yahoo!  Who doesn't want to be a part of that!  I know I'm on the prowl and if there are any others of you out there interested here's your chance!  Head on over to their blog:  Sister Act Design Team Call and check it out!

As for me...I'd like to share with you a few more cards in hopes to land me an amazing opportunity.  Here are a few cards that I have made recently but have not been posted before.  I wanted to give the ladies over at Sister Act some never before seen cards that I am proud of.

The Penguin stamp from this card is from Kraftin Kimmie.  The hat, feet and mug were coloured with Copics.

The above Christmas card was made using the step fold.  I love the adorable penguin which is a stamp from Wild Rose Studio.  Penguins are a huge fave at my home.

This last card I am also going to submit over at A Blog Named Hero for their current challenge: Just Make Your Own since the center medallion embellie was made using a stamp.

The above card was made using the amazing Tim Holtz Distress inks and some Perfect-Pearls-laced-water to add the bling.  The medallion in the middle of the card was born out of a piece of regular card stock covered with 4 layers of silver embossing power and Versamark ink heated with a heat gun in between layers.  Before the last layer cooled I stamped the snowflake using jet black StazOn ink to give it that debossed look.

Now since they only wanted 3 cards for my submission here they are...however, there are a few more that I've already posted that I feel very proud of. I'd like to give an honourable mention to those cards here, and here and here!  Also...since anything goes is the theme over at Simon Says Stamp challenge blog this week.   I'm going to submit these over there as well in hopes of earning some cool stuff!

Thanks for dropping by!

Wish me luck! (and good luck to you as well!)

Liz

Yay! Anything Goes (Part 2)

I'm back!  It's 2am but I'm still up and eager to share! (*YAWN*).

Here's another submission for this week's Simon Says Stamp Challenge-Anything Goes.  I just love love the sweet stamp from Whimsy Stamps.  So cute!  The ticket stamp is from My Mind's Eye. All the papers and ribbons are from my scrap stash.  Always love to deplete this drawer whenever possible!

Thanks for dropping by!