Freshly Made Sketches #17-A Sketch by Rita Wright

Wednesday is here! Yahoo! That means another challenge over at  Freshly Made Sketches! This week's hostess and sketch builder is the wonderful Rita Wright! She has come up with a fabulous sketch and I decided to go masculine with my card this week!

I used a set from Inspired by Stamping called "Ahoy Matey".  I just love the images and the sentiments in this set!  My card is very clean and simple with just a smidgen of sponging...I couldn't help it! I wanted it to look a little worn.  The blue background is the Distressed Cuttlebug folder.

We hope that you will join Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful creations!

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Smiles,
Lesley

Mojo Monday {Ahoy Matey}

Wow, Thursday already! I wanted to play with some new goodies and so I inked up my new Inspired by Stamping set called "Ahoy Matey". I was so excited to get this set as I am always looking for masculine sets!  The DSP is from a Christmas stash and I let the colours in it guide me to create this card.  I used the fun Mojo Monday sketch for my card.  

The card base is Basic Gray cardstock and the other colours are Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla. It is my hubby's birthday today and he is 40, so I needed a special card for him!  We live near the ocean and so this set was a must for me.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you enjoy your week!


Smiles,
Lesley

Colour Q 117 and Just Us Girls 117 {Just for You}

The last day of the year is here and with it comes the need to make at least a couple of resolutions. I hope to keep my craft room better organized! That is a BIG one for me. I spent about 5 hours tonight, cleaning and purging my room of creativity!  It feels much more zen and clean!!!  I just love having a tidy desk to work on!!! LOL!

The Colour Q has a wonderful colour combo of Black, White and another colour. My favourite colour from Stampin' Up is "Poppy Parade" and I was excited to use some of my new goodies that I received over the holidays!!!  I took inspiration from the photo Arielle provided. The damask really caught my eye!

Just Us Girls, has a challenge to use felt on your project. Cool huh!!! So I went into my newly organized crafty drawer and found some red felt. Using the Big Shot and my Prima Donna Petals die from MFT, I cut out the flower base. Then I cut the other parts of the flower in regular Poppy paper. The centre of the flower has a pearl.  The sentiment and the French Script background I used on the rectangle, are from two different Inspired by Stamping sets Ahoy Matey and All Year Wishes II. 

Thank you for stopping by!!! Happy New Year to all of my blogging friends!

Smiles,
Lesley

The Paper Players #76-Colours from Ann

This week at the Paper Players, the talented Ann Schach is hosting a fabulous colour challenge!  She is asking for some festive creations with Cherry Cobbler, Gold and Very Vanilla.  I used a stamp set from Inspired by Stamping for my card, it is called Christmas Cheer. 

The stocking is inked up with gold ink and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  The sentiment comes in two separate words so I could position the sentiment exactly as I wanted it!  I have used a pretty paper from Kaiser Craft.  The music notes are gold on the cherry paper.  They are really shiny but the photo just cannot capture that unfortunately!

I hope you get the chance to join us in our final challenge for the year!  This challenge will run extra long for 2 weeks!  So make sure you come and join us!  A special thank you to our talented Fall Team!  Julie Marshall, Tara Bilbao, Rita Wright, Susan Joyce, Cindy Hall and Sandra Conner!  What a quick Fall time it has been!!  You were all so lovely to play with!!  Please be sure to visit the Paper Players team to see their elegant creations!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Tara Bilbao

Rita Wright

Thanks for stopping by!!!
Lesley

Inspired by Stamping Release Day!! {Soar to New Heights}

I wanted to play along with the Mojo Sketch and the Colours at the Colour Throwdown this week.  I had to use Cherry Cobbler instead of Bravo Burgundy for the paper.  I am all out of Burgundy!!  I loved the inspiration that these challenges gave to me!

Today is the official release day at Inspired by Stamping!  This week I have been showcasing the brand new stamp set called "The Sky's the Limit" and today it is available for purchase.  In fact, there is also FREE SHIPPING today!  The promo code for the FREE SHIPPING is BALLOONS (which is case sensitive).




Here are the other cards I created this week with this set! My focus technique this week had been Paper Piecing.  I went for an earthy feel to all of my cards this week when it came to colours.

I hope you have enjoyed my week of samples. I truly had fun using this set and creating these cards.  To visit my fellow design team members, please click on their names below. Be sure to join the Mojo Sketch and the Colour Throwdown this week.

Amber Goble

Deb Hickman

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Gini Williams Cagle

Irit Shalom

Jennie Garcia

Joanna Munster

Kendra Sand

Kassi Hulet

Kim Score

Lesley Croghan (that's me...you are here)

Susie Moore

Thanks for stopping by!!!

{Supplies Used}

Stamps: The Sky's the Limit (Inspired by Stamping)

Paper: Crumb Cake, Black, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive(All SU!), Retired Christmas Paper from Stamping Up

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bravo Burgundy

Tools/Extras: Snips, Dimensionsals, MFT Dienamics (Medium Scallop Edge), Big Shot, Scallop Rectangles, Rectangle Nestabilities, Twine

Inspired by Stamping Sneak Peek Day 1 BLOG HOP {Flying by to say Hi!} and JUGS Sketch Challenge

Today is my very first Sneak Peek for the Inspired by Stamping Design Team. Yippee! I am so honoured to be on this talented team! Joanna Munster has a brand new stamping line called "Inspired by Stamping" and her stamps are amazing! If you are here, you have arrived from the blog of Kim Score. 

I was so excited to see that the first set we would be using is filled with Hot Air Balloons!  This set is called "The Sky's the Limit". The set has 15 stamps in it and will be released in Joanna's online store two days from now on Saturday, December 10th!  The BEST news is, she will be offering FREE SHIPPING on Saturday!!! Yahoo!

I inked up the balloons in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and stamped them directly onto my "Away We Go" designer paper from My Mind's Eye.  Then I stamped the balloons on to the cardstock and carefully cut them out, to paper piece each balloon.  The sentiment fit perfectly onto my MTF Label Tab and I used the Medium Scallop Edge dienamics from MFT to create the bottom scallops.

I used the terrific sketch from the JUGS Challenge site.  I loved the clean lines of it and thought it would be perfect for the balloons.  The Inspired by Stamping Design Team has some wonderful samples to share with you from today's Sneak Peek Blog Hop!  Be sure to visit them and leave them some comment love!  Be sure to visit Susie Moore on your next stop in the hop!

Amber Goble

Deb Hickman

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Gini Williams Cagle

Irit Shalom

Jennie Garcia

Joanna Munster

Kendra Sand

Kassi Hulet

Kim Score

Lesley Croghan

Susie Moore

  

Thanks for stopping by!!!  Please join me again tomorrow for another "Sneak Peek" of this fabulous set!  I am so excited to share what I made!

{Supplies List}

Stamps: The Sky's the Limit (Inspired by Stamping)

Papers: MME-Away we Go, More Mustard (SU!), Really Rust (SU!), Very Vanilla (SU!), Black

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black)

Tools/Extras: MFT Dienamics-Medium Scallop Edge, Label Dienamics, Big Shot, Button, Paper Snips

Freshly Made Sketches #14 {Peace}

Today is Wednesday and that means it is time for another Freshly Made Sketch Challenge!  Jennifer Timko is our Sketch Designer this week and she had come up with a wonderful sketch for us to play with! I also found a new blog called "Young Crafter's Unite" and they are looking for die cutting on a project.

I recently purchased this wonderful die for my Big Shot called "Deer Trio" from Memory Box.  I cut out the deer in Soft Suede and paired it with some Saint Nick Fancy Pants Designer Paper.  The sentiment comes from Inspired by Stamping as is inked up with Early Espresso ink.  The snowflake comes from the My Favorite Things Snowflake Trio Dienamic. 

We hope that you will join Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful creations!

Freshly Made Sketches Design Team

Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright
Christy Q
Lauri Ingram
Lesley Croghan (that's me)

Thanks for stopping by!!!

The Paper Players Challenge #72 {Yuletide Blessings}

Another Sunday is here already! Christmas is coming fast and I spent the weekend making some Christmas cards for my stash! I actually made 40 clean and simple cards, that I hope to share with you this week. For now, I am excited to share with you LeAnne's amazing Colour Combo for this week's Paper Players challenge!

This week I inked up this adorable stamp set called "Christmas Cheer" from my new blogging friend Joanna Munster of Inspired by Stamping.  She designed this stamp set and I was fortunate enough to receive one from her this week!  Isn't that lovely?  I am on her new design team and I am so excited to be working with her! I embossed the tree with Always Artichoke Ink and my versamark pad/clear embossing powder.  Both the River Rock Panel and the Riding Hood Red panels are embossed, and who can resist that awesome striped grosgrain ribbon, I love the stuff!

I loved this colour combo from LeAnne so much I had to make another card with it!  Tree is stamped with Always Artichoke and then I stamped over it again with River Rock ink. I just love how those inks go together!  I embossed the background with the "Victoria" cuttlebug embossing folder. Lots of red here but I think it packs a punch!

We hope that you will join the Paper Players Challenge this week!  Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful creations!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Julie Marshall

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Nance Leedy

Tara Bilbao
Susan Joyce

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Exciting News!

Hello stamping friends...

I am excited to share that I will be designing cards for Joanna Munster's brand new stamping line called "Inspired by Stamping"!  Joanna's card making work is something I have admired for a long time and I was absolutely over the moon and deeply honored when she asked me to join her team! 

My time on Joanna's team begins in December, I sure hope you will all come out to see the big reveal!  I am designing with an amazing team, I just hope I can keep up!!  Please check out their blogs below.

Amber Goble 

Deb Hickman

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Gini Williams Cagle

Irit Shalom

Jennie Garcia

Joanna Munster

Kendra Sand

Kassi Hulet

Kim Score

Lesley Croghan**

Susie Moore

I hope you will support me in my new adventure!  I am REALLY excited to share all of Joanna's wonderful new images with you!  The first sneak peak will be on December 8th!

Thanks for stopping by!!!