Sunday, March 30, 2014

Exciting News!!!!

Good morning stamping friends! I have some exciting news!!! 
The Logo
SRM Stickers will be starting a brand new CHALLENGE on Friday, April 4th!!! 

I am not designing for the the challenge team but I have helped the lovely Susan (SRM Stickers owner) get the challenge blog up and running!!! I am so excited for her!!


Starting tomorrow, she will be introducing the team on the blog! Come and check it out and be sure to become a follower! There will be a nice prize package to win every month too!!!



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The Challenge #3 {Hello}

Hello stamping friends and welcome to The Challenge #3

This week I had fun with a "skewed" panel! My sketch came together quickly! I hope you enjoy it and play along. I would love to see what you create with my sketch! The measurements for my card are below the sketch.


Here are the card measurements that I used to create my card:
Card Base 4.25" x 11" scored at 5.5" (A2)
Striped Piece 3.75" x 5"
Skewed Gray Panel 2.5" x 4.50"
White Panel 2.5" x 4"


See that piece of designer paper on an angle...yep, that means "skewed"! I dug into a stash of old Stampin' Up papers and it gave me the colours for my card. I also used a retired floral set...one of my favourites! But if you wanted to do something similar any floral set would work! My colour combo is Coastal Cabana, Cajun Craze, White and Black.

You have until Sunday, April 6th at Noon (PST) to play along:

The Challenge {Weekly Winner} and a Top 3

Wow! Challenge #2 brought out such beautiful cards. Thank you for making my simple sketch shine. It is really "challenging" for me to choose winners...I adore everyone's card and think there is a lot of beauty in the linky this week. But I know as a card maker, I love the thrill of being highlighted at a challenge...and so I have chosen one main "winner" and a Top 3. I have also explained why I have chosen these cards. Here is the sketch that everyone used.



My main Winner this week is:



I chose Kimberly's card because I enjoyed the bold colours she used. I loved the way she stamped the pinwheel image in turquoise and then fussy cut the other pinwheels in the orange, blue and pink to sit on top! Her card is impacting and yet still clean-lined. Congratulations, Kim!

My Top 3 picks are (in alphabetical order):



Maura's card showed such a neat way to create an effective and impacting background. She white embossed the lines and then used some inks to create a pretty layer. I also loved how the hearts mimicked the background. 


Nina amazed me with her creative card. She created the golf balls using a circle punch and embossing the white circles with dots. Then she printed out the golf tees from her computer and fussy cut them. I enjoyed her fresh take on the sketch too...with her golf balls staggered and the matching sentiment!


I loved the colour combo that Traci used on her card. She did some freehand stitching with a white pen and the extra scorelines she added on the white card stock added both interest and texture. Love the texture on her life preservers too! Super cute and fun!

Once again, thank you to everyone who played along with my challenge. In one hour, I will be back with Challenge #3-a brand new sketch! I sure hope you will join me.

SRM Stickers BIRTHDAY Combo!


Playing with the new birthday goodies and boxes...I made a mini-birthday card set and a matching card. I think it will be a nice gift for my mom who is always needing birthday cards. I am up on the SRM blog today...please stop by to see my birthday set!



SRM Goodies Used:

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Purple Onion Designs Giveaway ALERT!!!

Thrilled to be designing for

Happy Sunday!!! There is a challenge and a giveaway happening over at Purple Onion Designs! Michele is offering the chance to win a birthday themed stamp prize package!!! Come and play along with your Purple Onion stamps!!! Good luck!

Click HERE to play along!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Card Concept, The Shabby Tea Room, Seize the Birthday & Viva la Verve {Fabulous}


Happy Wednesday! Today we have a brand new challenge over at The Card Concept. This is my last challenge with the team as a Guest Designer! It was wonderful to play along with these talented and inspiring ladies.


This week we are simply looking for a Birthday Card. I chose the inspiration photo because of the white cake mixed with the pretty flowers and the woodgrain. I did not manage to get the woodgrain incorporated in my card but I tried to capture the spring like quality of the colours. 


My sketch came from the Viva la Verve Sketches. I LOVE this sketch! It was great to use up some scraps from my bin. I also used an oval for the center to fit my sentiment which is a new one for me from Stampin' Up. I am a sucker for scrolling font! I am also linking this up at the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Birthday Challenge. I am also linking up at The Shabby Tea Room Anything Goes Challenge.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Reminder for The Challenge and meet my Guest this week!

Good morning stamping friends!

If you are looking for my Seize the Sketch post, please CLICK HERE.


It is time for the weekly reminder for The Challenge and I have asked Judy May to join me as a Guest this week! I love Judy's interpretation of the sketch and the pretty colours she used!

Thank you for the inspiration, Judy!




To play along with the sketch, please CLICK HERE.

Seize the Sketch #16 {What's the Scoop}


Happy Tuesday! Will someone please slow this week down! LOL! I have the week off and already Tuesday is here! I found Monday ZOOMED by! Such is the way of holiday time away from work!


After a short hiatus, I am happy to be back designing with my inspiring team at Seize the Sketch. These ladies do such amazing work and they are all pretty wonderful people, too. A special thank you to Tangii for running the challenge so effortlessly!


Jen Nelson designed this sketch but has decided to move on from our team, she will be missed and Stacey Schafer has also decided to step down! But we are thrilled to welcome Katie Melhus and Lee Ann Barrett to our team!


I got out my Purple Onion Designs Stamps...love this "sweet" set called What's the Scoop! Thought this would be a fun card to send to a friend. My card is made from 100% scraps! Even the die cut stitched square was from my UFO box! It felt good to use some scraps! 

Come and play along at Seize the Sketch!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Merry Monday #100 & Happy Anniversary to Us!


Happy St. Patty's Day and it is our 100th challenge over at Merry Monday! WOW! This week we are doing a special challenge where you can link up a Christmas card using Pink, Lime, White or the sketch or both! I decided to use the colours but not my sketch. Instead I used the fun sketch over at Sugar Pea Designs. I was also intrigued by Virginia Lu's new challenge called Virginia's View and the first challenge is to use watercolouring on your card...so I got out some inks and got them wet...I like the effect! I never would have tried this without Virginia's challenge! Thanks for the nudge, Virginia!!



I kept my card VERY simple and used all white to allow the poinsettia to hopefully pop! Then I stamped the sentiment onto some white paper and used my MFT banner dies to cut the sentiment out.


This stamp set was in the Stampin' Up holiday mini catalogue and I loved it so much. I believe it is retired now. I used some Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral and some Lucky Limeade and Wild Wasabi for the inks with my Aqua Painter. The colours kind of bled into each other but I actually enjoyed the look they created. It was really fun...you should try this technique. I tried photographing my card differently using some natural light...what do you think? I am happy with how much truer the colours are showing! One day I will get better at taking photos of my cards!!

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On a personal note...it is my 7 year anniversary with my sweet hubby, Corey. I love him more than anyone...it is that simple. He is true blue, hard working and hilarious! Not to mention, so stinkin' adorable! So happy St. Patty's Day everyone...and remember...

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!

SRM Stickers Design Team Project Peek!


Happy St. Patty's Day to you all! Today I am actually sharing an Easter Gift set I made using my favourite SRM Press products!!! I love how the bigger purses can fit some mini eggs! I had fun making my Easter project and used some of the multi-coloured stickers to design the purse. I have a card to share too but it is on the SRM blog!

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Please stop on by the SRM Press blog to see the rest of my Easter project?

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Paper Sweeties March Release Rewind!


The new released stamps & dies are out at Paper Sweeties and I am so excited about all the sets that are available! Today I used the new Hippity Hoppity Easter Wishes and the matching die set called Sweet Cuts Hippity Hoppity Easter Wishes.


I played along with CASE this Sketch & The Curtain Call Challenges-I was inspired by the pretty ribbon on the jar of flowers. I used some fun pattern papers with plaid and the bright, yellow polka dots! I hope my card is "farm fresh" enough! Such fun challenges!

   

Come hop along to see what the design team created!

Lesley Croghan<<<you are here

Here is a recap of what I shared this week for the March release at Paper Sweeties!



Saturday, March 15, 2014

Spring Break Frivolity! {TAWS, CTD, MFT & FTL}

Well my first day of Spring Break was HIGHLY productive! I had a blast; inking up some fun new stamp sets and playing along with a couple of challenges.


This first card I used the sketch from the Fall to Layout and the colours from The Colour Throwdown. I was also inspired by the BIC Challenge and played along-so I used an Alley Way Stamp!


For my next card, I played along with the BIC Challenge again and also used the colours from The Colour Throwdown again. The sketch above is one I found at My Favorite Things!


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March 15: Paper Sweeties March Release Party!


Are you having fun with the Paper Sweeties blog hop this week! Yes, the new release is almost at hand!!!


I used the MOJO Monday Sketch and went to work using this sweet little lamb! I love that she comes with a die too! Easy peasy to cut out! And see those sweet orange sequins! SO cute! Like little cups!


Come hop along to see what the design team created!