Sketch Challenge on SCS-Just Believe

I am happy to share a card I made for the current Sketch Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  I recently ordered a bunch of goodies from the Clearance Rack and wanted to play with some new retired paper called Raspberry Tart.  Why did I never order this stuff when it was current?  I LOVE it!! It was the inspiration for my card today!!

My card base is Rose Red and I layered it with Early Espresso and a piece of the Raspberry Tart DSP.  Then I flipped over another small piece of the DSP and used that across the middle of my card.  I have noticed some stampers sponge a So Saffron Ink over the place when their main image is going to go.  I love the look and thought I would try it.  What do you think?  Does it look misplaced?

So I am placing an order tonight.  Does anyone have some interesting suggestions of little, fun items that I could add to my order?  I was at Anne-Marie Hile's blog the other day and saw that she had used some  Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink in Gold Lame.  I LOVED the look and immediately went to my cattie to find it.  It is on my list!!!

On a personal note, poor Cyrus, our beloved pup, really hurt himself yesterday.  He has bone cancer but he has been okay other than he has been acting hyper and stressed.  Yesterday he tried to get out of the house while we were at work and he hurt his bad leg even more than it was.  He is not weight bearing on it and he is in a lot of pain.  The crazy thing is, his pain is not from the bone cancer but from his crazy episode.  We are hoping that he is better tomorrow and that he will come through this. He is still eating and is functioning normally.  He is better today than last night and I hope he continues to get better.  He has been sleeping in the middle, staying close to us. He is so affectionate.  This is tough stuff.  We have him on new meds now and he is calmer.  Which is good.  I hope he can make it, we don't want him to suffer.

Thank you for stopping by.  As always, if you have any questions or thoughts to share, please do!!! 

Smiles,

Just Us Girls Sketch Challenge #58

Wow! Second post for the day! I am on a roll but I should really go and get some housework done after this! LOL!  I was searching the web for a sketch inspiration when I stumbled upon the JUGS Sketch Challenge.  I decided to use my French Foliage Stamp and to create a poinsettia with it.  I have seen some beautiful flowers created with this set and wanted to try it out!  My inspiration comes from two talented ladies Vicki Burdick and Connie Babert. 

I inked up each leaf and cut them out by hand.  I used Poppy Parade and Always Artichoke to create the poinsettia and some Crumb Cake for the En Francais background on the main panel.  The sentiment comes from Jolly Old St. Nick from the Stampin' Up Mini Catalogue.  I added some pearls to the centre of the flower.  The bottom is punched with the Scallop Edge Punch and the designer paper comes from the Hostess Level 1 set in the main catalogue.  Once again, the base of my card is Naturals Ivory from SU!  I just love it!

Thank you for stopping by!  If you have any questions please feel free to email me.  My email address is located in my Profile.

Enjoy your day!
Smiles,

Medallion Background Stamp (CASE)

Today I want to share a clean and simple card I made using the Medallion Background Stamp.  I found a similar card in an online gallery made by Susan Copp.  She didn't have a blog I could link up, but I wanted to give her credit for her beautiful design that I CASEd. (Copy and Share Everything)

To make this card, I simply stamped the Medallion stamp twice, one in Crumb Cake Ink and one in Soft Suede on two different pieces of Naturals Ivory Cardstock.  Then I used my Scallop Circle Punch to punch out the centre of the Suede medallion and popped it up on Dimensionals on the Crumb Cake Medallion.  The sentiment comes from the beautiful Peace on Earth Hostess Level 2 stamp set in the Mini Catalogue.  I stamped it in Early Espresso. The entire Ivory Piece of cardstock was sponged with Soft Suede Ink. 

I think this card would look beautiful in blue hues as well and is a simple card to reproduce for many friends and family.  The stamp does all the work!

Thanks for stopping by!

I love hearing from you, please let me know what you think and as always, if you have any questions, please email me.  My email address is located in my profile.

Smiles,

Paper Players Challenge #23-Snowman Theme

It is time for another Challenge at the Paper Players Challenge Blog.  I am this week's host and I have challenged my team to make a paper project using a Snowman on it!!  You can create any paper project such as a scrapbooking page, a card, a 3D project or maybe even a project using material!

I decided to change the shape of my card to a Tent Topper Style of card.  I cut my cardstock base in Pacific Point Paper and measured it to be 8.5" x 4.25".  Then I folded it in half.  Then using my Circle Scissors Plus, I cut a 2.75" circle out of Whisper White Paper and used the Scallop Circles #2 Die to create a Bashful Blue Scallop Circle for the top of my card!

I used the PRETTY Blueberry Crisp Designer Paper (117392) on pg.174.  This paper has all my favourite colours in it and could be easily adapted to work on a holiday card as I have used it here!  I stamped the "Winter Wonderrland" sentiment in White Craft Ink directly onto the Designer Paper and heat embossed it with White Embossing Powder and my Heat Gun.  Using a little Bashful Blue Ribbon and my Snowflake Punch, I added some sweet details to the card that makes it extra special for that someone special!

A Tip:
-The best new thing about Stampin' Up's Colour Change is the addition of the Crumb Cake Marker.  I used the marker to gently highlight the snowman, so he didn't appear flat on the Whisper White Cardstock.

Check out the work from the Design Team:

Ann Schach
Jaydee
Nance Leedy
Anne Marie Hile (Guest Designer)

I love reading your comments and appreciate you taking the time to stop and say hello!  If you ever have any questions about my cards, please email me.  My email address is located in my profile.

Smiles,
Lesley

Pals Paper Arts Colour Challenge and Stamping 411 Sketch

Thank you to all my blogging friends who have left messages and emails for me regarding my pup Cyrus.  He is calmer tonight, we hope he will sleep more soundly.  I really appreciate your thoughts and kindness.  Tonight I had the chance to stamp (my husband was watching football, hanging out with Cyrus) and I decided to try the Stamping 411 Sketch with the Pals Paper Arts Colour Challenge which is to use Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight and Basic Grey.  These colours are so pretty together and look pretty sharp with Whisper White. 

The 411 sketch is great and I decided to pull out Vintage Vogue because of the flowers in that set, I wanted them to overhang the rectangle like in the original sketch design found HERE.

This was my first creation:

I wanted to create my card with a Clean and Simple look.  I used Whisper White as my card base and added some major bling to my flowers with SU! gemstones (I love these things!!).  After I created this card I decided to go back to the drawing board and start again because I realized that I was a little off from the sketch at Stamping 411.

With more layers and some designer paper, I stepped up this card with some depth and weight.  I am really happy with both cards.  The designer paper is from the Level One Hostess Pack in the Big SU! Catalogue.

So what do you think?  Which style appeals to you?  Please let me know if you have any questions about what I used on my card or how I made my cards by emailing me.  My email address is located in my profile.  Please leave me a comment to let me know which "look" you like the best!  I really enjoy hearing from you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smiles,

Handstamped Sentiments Colour Splash

The gals over at Handstamped Sentiments have a terrific colour challenge happening this week!  They are looking for projects that use Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Pear Pizzazz.  I LURVE this colour combo!  I got out my favourite stamp set called "Elements of Style" and inked it up! 

Like to Colour?  This stamp set inks up beautifully and it a cinch to colour!  A little trick is to rub a versamark ink pad over the image after it is coloured...this gives the image a smooth, sleek finish.  Then I used the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz to really make the flowers sparkle and heat set the shimmer with my heat gun.

I wanted to make a set of 4 matching cards and a box to hold them!  Christmas is all about handmade gifts and this would be a lovely gift for a friend or co-worker! 

A little note...

I used the Naturals Ivory Cardstock (101849) for my card base and the box.  It is a heavier cardstock than Very Vanilla and would make beautiful Paper for Wedding Invitations!

Thanks for stopping by!  If you have any questions please feel free to email me by visiting my profile!  I would love to hear from you!!  And please let me know what you think by leaving a comment.  I appreciate it so much!

Smiles,

Resisting Tiramisu Snowflakes (Stamping 411 Sketch) & Creative Card Crew Challenge

The sketch over at the Stamping 411 is a goodie!  I was inspired to play and wanted to challenge myself with an idea I had floating around in my head.  What if I heated embossed the Serene Snowflakes in White Embossing Powder and then stamped over them in Chocolate Chip Ink with the En Francais Background stamp and then sponged over the snowflakes with Crumb Cake Ink?  An emboss resist technique!  Who can resist Tiramisu! The colours I used look liked a yummy dessert to me! So I am calling this my Tiramisu Technique!

I also made this card for the Creative Card Crew Challenge "Let's Punch It!"  I used the Scallop Border Punch and the Corner Punch to make the edging around the Snowflakes.  The sentiment is punched out with the Large Oval Punch. 

Both my husband and I have been tired lately, I have not been in the usual crafting craze I usually am, which is to make cards everyday!  Our beloved Wonder Dog, Cyrus was recently diagnosed with bone cancer.  He was diagnosed on September 3rd, the weekend before school started.  (That was a stressful weekend!!)  He is our fur baby, eventhough he is 12, he is like a child for us and it has been awful watching him slow down in the past few months.  He doesn't seem to realize that he is unwell and we have him on the many pain killers and other medicines the Vet has prescribed.  These medications do help him.  The past two nights he has been unable to sleep and has been asking to go out.  I think because of Halloween, there are many firecrackers still going off around here and they tend to make him jump!  He hates the noise of them.  Needless to say, we have had two sleepless nights, looking after him.  He has been sticking his wet nose into our faces while we are sleeping.  A wet nose wake up is not always pleasant, especially throughout the night!  So tonight we are both pooped!  My husband is already snoring away in the other room! Poor guy!

As to Cyrus and his bone cancer, he is doing much better than any of us thought he would. I want to thank my pal Jaydee for her kind words in her blog posts about Cyrus.  Here is a photo of our 100lb "baby"!  He loves running on the beach!  There is another photo of him in my right sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Smiles,

Christmas Card Class Creations

I thought I would have some fun and share some of the cards I have made for the card classes I have coming up.  I decided to add these to the current Paper Players Challenge "Anything Goes" so I could share with my pals!!   I also am adding them to the challenge over at Mark's Finest Papers.  This is a new challenge for me!  They are looking for a holiday card!!  I love this little snowman from the Holiday Mini Catalogue!  You can't tell in the photo but he has glitter on him!! So cute!  I wish I had more time to write today but I am off to work!

I hope you have a good week! Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world!

Smiles,