Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A "Just Rite" Easter card

About a year or so ago, I won a set of "Just Rite Stamps" as blog candy from Becca Feeken. Here blog can be found here and on my side bar. I forget the name of the set, but it is still for sale in their shop and it has something for every American holiday we have. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's day, Father's day, Valentine's Day, Birthday, Easter, etc... So, I decided to give the Easter stamp a try. I followed the card sketch from Splitcoast Stampers from last week or the week before. I am short on time, so please forgive me for not knowing exactly which sketch. I was excited about the sketch when I first saw it, but then when I made a card with it, I was no longer happy. Maybe I am just too critical of my own work. But never the less, here it is:

I used some "Die Cuts With A View" card stock (the green and white pearlescent textured), and the cute floral piece. The rest of the card stock is Stampin Up. Maybe it is the card stock, I am just not as happy with card stock if it is not Stampin Up, maybe because the colors don't coordinate as well together. Stampin Up's card stock is made to coordinate together and with it's designer patterned paper. I do however completely adore that stamp image, and had a blast coloring that cute little chickie. I hope you like it, even if I am not completely happy with it.

Anyhoo, please continue to excuse my blog dust, one of my buttons still isn't working if you click on it, and they don't appear to be the same size. It is a work in progress, two very busy ladies are working on them.

Come back and visit me tomorrow, for "Soft Pencil Thursday"! I am making something with the absolute cutest Easter digi image on the planet!

Until next time............ Blessings, Lisa

Monday, March 29, 2010

Inspirational Easter Card

Hello. I wanted to show you today an Easter card that I made that is more about the "reason for the season" as the saying goes. I used a stamp set from Stampin Up called "Abundant Hope". Here is a photo of the entire stamp set, it has a beautiful image of Daffodils, two sayings, and a fancy swirl image.

For the front of the card, I stamped the image on Watercolor paper, and colored it with Stampin Up ink refills dropped into the lid of the ink pad and I used a blender pen. The Designer paper is from a retired Simply Scrappin set, and the border was punched with SU's new Scalloped border punch. I cut out the image with an oval Spellbinder's Nestibility and mounted it onto Yoyo Yellow card stock cut out with a scalloped Oval Nestibility. The Sticky gems are from Michael's Craft Store, and the image is popped up a bit with some foam dimensionals from Stampin Up. The other card stock used is SU Garden Green, and Whisper White.

I decided to show you the inside of the card because I stamped the longer sentiment on the inside with the fancy swirl on the top and under the sentiment. Love that Swirl!

Now, this week is my first week back on the DT team over at Soft Pencil Designs, so among other things this week, I will be having "Soft Pencil Thursday" again for the month of April. I love working with Soft Pencil Designs, they are so adorable. I have another Easter card to show you tomorrow, with an oh so cute image that was a gift to me from a friend. I am still working on my blog remodeling, so keep excusing my dust.
So, until next time.............Blessings, Lisa

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Please Excuse my Dust....

because my blog is undergoing some changes. I am trying to perk it up a little, make some changes because quite frankly and I can't believe that I am saying this, but I am so tired of looking at that lavender background! Yes, you read that correctly, I am actually tired of looking at that background. Plus, a friend of mine is helping me create some awesome sidebar buttons. So, please be patient if the new stuff doesn't work correctly right away, I am working on it. Busy, busy, busy, plus I have been doing some much needed Spring cleaning and going through our "stuff" to get ready for a yard sale. But, while you are waiting to see some interesting Easter creations, chew on this masculine card for a bit:

I saw something similar to this somewhere......................oh I forget, sorry whoever you are. I had been wondering if the negative pieces to this SU/Sizzix Sizzlet die cut (Little Leaves) would look cute on a card anyways, so I put my own twist into it, and Voila. The negative piece is popped up just a bit with some foam dimensionals. Here is a list of supplies:

Card stock: SU ~ Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Creamy Caramel

Punches: SU ~ 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch
Accessories: Sticky gems from Michael's

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello! I am back! Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone even if you aren't Irish. I am a wee bit Irish, and my husband is approximately 75% Irish, so we decorate for this occasion around our house and I make shamrock shaped cookies. Beyond that.....no matter what ethnic background you carry in your genes, be proud of it, celebrate it, and don't let anyone tell you there is something wrong with it! I have a handful of different ethnic genes, and I like each and every one of them. Beyond the Irish genes, I am also part English, Czech, Swiss, and Italian (Venice). I guess you could say that I am a very European combination kind of girl. What brave ancestors I must have had to leave their homelands to come to America! I am very fascinated with every ones ethnic backgrounds, so if you feel like it, drop me a line and tell me your ethnic background(s), and if you are visiting me from another country, tell me a little bit about your homeland as I will probably never get to travel abroad in my lifetime.

Ok, on with the reason for this blog, paper crafting! I have three cards to share with you today! Yep, three! Elizabeth, the owner of my favorite digi company, Soft Pencil Designs, was sweet enough to grant my wish and ideas for a couple of St. Patrick's Day images and send them to me, so I made a couple of cards with them, and I also made a card with some Stampin Up supplies. So, Is the first one:

So, is this image cute or what? Michu the kitty is very excited as you can see to have found that big pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow (can you blame him?), and I think Ratiny is just happy to have found a mouse Girlfriend. Look at her cute little bow on her head, which I couldn't help myself but to color it purple. The Daisy DSP is from Provo Craft, ands the rest of the card stock is from Stampin Up. The sentiment is also from Stampin Up from their "Teeny Tiny Words" stamp set. The border at the bottom was made with the daisy border punch from Martha Stewart. Of course I couldn't resist embellishing it with some Sticky gems from Michael's craft store. The two shamrocks up in the right hand corner were made with a shamrock paper punch from EK Success. I colored the image with Stampin Up markers, and some Smooch shimmer paint.

The next image above is Michu and Ratiny dressed up as Leprechauns! Oh my gosh when I saw this one, I squealed with delight out loud, literally! It is is absolutely priceless! I used a sketch similar to one that I used on a previous post, except that I mounted the image on a scalloped square instead of a scalloped circle (scroll down and see the card with the Soft Pencil Mermaid on it). I made the scalloped square with my Sizzix/Stampin Up BigZ scalloped square die-cut, love that die-cut! The DSP was leftover from last year and it is from Provo Craft, I couldn't help myself again and added some Gold fake Pearls to embellish the scallops. The image was colored with a combination of Stampin Up's markers and their Watercolor wonder crayons and blender pens.

This last card above used the negative or left over piece from cutting out the scallop square, and I popped it up with some foam dimensionals. The shamrock was made by cutting out 3 hearts from Stampin Ups Sizzix Embosslit called Scalloped Heart of Hearts. I hand cut the stem. I am in a bit of a rush, so I didn't post the colors that I used. However, if you want to know what they are, just leave me a comment letting me know, and I can add them tomorrow. Thanks for visiting.
Until Next Time..................Blessings, Lisa

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Farewell to Soft Pencil Designs

Ah, my time as a Soft Pencil Design Team member has come to an end. I will miss it more than I have words to say! However, they have asked me to come back and be a guest designer for the month of April, so of course I said yes! Plus, the owner of Soft Pencil Designs, Elizabeth is working on some St. Patrick's Day digi images that I suggested! I can't wait to see how they turned out! She should be posting them to her blog and store any day now. I am a wee bit Irish, and my husband is approximately 75% Irish, so St. Patrick's Day is important in our house.


Ok, on with a card. I decided to post a cute little child's birthday card that I made with "Ratiny" from the Soft Pencil Animals collection. Ratiny is so stinkin cute, I just had to create with him.

I hope you like it:


Yes, I love Ratiny so much that I had to put him on the card 3 times. I cut him out using some Circle Nestibilities from Spellbinders, and then I mounted him on Melon Mambo card stock that I punched with my Stampin Up Scallop Circle Punch. The card base is Certainly Celery, the designer paper is Retired Stampin Up. I printed the sentiment out from Microsoft Word, punched it out with my Stampin Up Modern Label Punch, and also layered it on a Modern Label punch that I cut in half and adhered behind the sentiment. The final piece under the sentiment was made using the SU Large Oval punch, and of course I rounded the corners of the card base with my SU 3/16" Corner Rounder punch.
Until next time............ Blessings, Lisa