Sunday, May 31, 2009

Stampin' Out Alzheimer's - Mojo Sketch 88


Here's my submission for the Mojo Sketch Challenge #88. I'm also entering it for lots of stuff over at the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event.

I inked up Wasabi Ketto from Stamping Bella in Memento Tuxedo Black and painted her with Hottie Pink and Marigold Shimmerz. Her hair is colored with a black glaze pen and dusted with black glitter - uber shimmery IRL. She was cut out with the classic circle Nestabilities and while still in the die, I used a bit of pink pearlescent chalks to hightlight the area. The base is SU! Pretty in Pink with a layer of PTI white stamped with the 3 floral images of Verve's Grateful Elegance. The largest flower is stamped in Pretty in Pink, the next is PTI Hibiscus Burst and the smallest is SU! Only Orange. The Only Orange layer is stamped with the large square filigree pattern from the same set as the flowers. I then embossed the 'Hey There, Sunshine!' sentiment in black. The black strip through the center is a strip of PTI True Black satin ribbon. Lastly, the panels beneath the main image are stamped with the leafy sprig from SU! Embrace Life. They are stamped in VersaMark. I then used a white gel pen to highlight each leaf. I am in love with this card and fun color combo! Tell me what you think...
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! :o) lyss

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Viney Birthday

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a birthday card and bookmark combo that I made for a friend's mother-in-law. Because my sweet friend was willing to pay me for my creations, I thought I would make her a couple of choices and allow her to pick her favorite. I figured I could keep the one she didn't like and have it on hand for my own gift combo. Turns out she loved them all! She bought each one and now she has a gift combo on hand for someone else. Lucky girl! These cards use the lovely swirly, flourishy, viney image from Papertrey's With Sympathy set (link in sidebar). I didn't really feel the need to have a sympathy set when this debuted, but I just had to have the flourish! It is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and the leaves are colored in with a Copic marker. The little tulip image is stamped in Rose Red. I cut it out and mounted it on a piece of black that was run through the cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. Pretty simple card(s) really! The sentiment is from Damask Designs (PTI). I masked off the portion that said "to you" in order to make it fit into my ribbon sliders die. The vine image and the sentiments are up on dimensionals.
The bookmark is a bit softer with the viney image stamped in Certainly Celery and with the main panel sponged around the edges in CC also. Sentiment is from Mixed Messages (PTI). The black base is also stamped with the viney image on the back in VersaMark and embossed in black. Super classy look, but I forgot to get a pic of it! I've got to get a light/photo box. I'm hating how all of my pics are looking. This photo just doesn't do this bookmark justice. Oh well! Hope you likey anyway!

On another note, I changed the background of my blog. I wanted to go with something lighter for the summer season. I'm not sure I like it though. Tell me what you think!
Also, is anyone else playing along with the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's week? There are a ton of challenges and prizes to be had; plus, you have the entire week and weekend to get your submissions posted. It looks like it's going to be fun! Hope you all have a great day! :o) lyss




Friday, May 22, 2009

Happy Mother's Day Mom2!

I think I'd better show this before it's like July or something. For my mother-in-law, I made the same type of gift set of cards using the My Timeless Template All Boxed Up. Since I'd already made the one for my mom, this one came together much quicker. Plus, I chose to use some coordinating Basic Grey Blush paper (Yay me! I used DP on something!!), instead of coloring my own. I also chose to mat the DP on Regal Rose cardstock for a little extra interest.
I didn't have as much time to make cards for my MIL as I would have liked. I attempted to make some single layer only cards. They turned out ok, but definitely NOT my best work. I was able to fit 10 monogrammed envelopes on the left side and 10 single layer cards on the right.

The cards were an assortment of Holiday greetings, Thank yous, Happy birthdays and Just because/hello. I used a variety of stamps - everything from SU!, Verve, PTI, Michael's dollar bin, etc. I think I had every stamp I owned out and spread out across the entire kitchen. My hubby was a bit annoyed, me thinks! Oh well! It was for his mom, so I hope she loved them!
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend (for those of us in the USA). Me? I have to work at 5:30 am (yuk!!!) Saturday and Monday. Double yuk!! Thank you to those that have served and are currently serving our country! :o) lyss

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Kayla-bayla!





I have to show a picture of my little punk and cute hubby to start off this post. Hubby brought a bagger (grandpa bike) home from work yesterday and rigged a belt to give the little guy his first motorcycle ride. He was so excited!! It was adorable, so I just had to share. Sorry Cristin & Annie, you get to see this twice today! ;o)

My card was made for my step-daughter Kayla. She turned 14!! this month. She is a little too beautiful for her own good. She's fashionable and trendy and fun. Her little brother loves her so much. When she came over last weekend, Zane ran about 50 feet (he was on a walk with grandma) just to give her a hug. It was so cute! Course, I think just about everything my son does is soooo cute, go figure!
This little fairy stamp is from The Greeting Farm (I think). I'm too lazy to look it up right now. It's from the blog candy I won last month. She is colored in with my Copics, and her wings are painted with Opal Shimmerz. The base is green galore and is stamped with the grid from Guidelines 1 to mimic lattice in a garden. Sorry, when I think of fairies, I think of gardens! The background piece is stamped with Guidelines 2 (of course!) in green galore, gable green and tempting turquoise. The sentiment is from CC Designs and is embossed in white. The flowers are from a tin of Primas that I got at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. Love those coupons! The center brad is one I made. It's a large brown brad heated and covered in white embossing powder twice. I then heated it again and dipped it in yellow glitter from Doodlebug. Hope you like!! Have a great day! :o) lyss

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 6



Here's a pretty color challenge that I don't think I would have ever put together on my own. I tend to go with black instead of brown 99% of the time. I forget what a nice color chocolate is! I stamped these Bellas this weekend right after I saw Dawn's new color challenge. I had tons of fun coloring them...and then didn't have tons of fun trying to make them into a card! Layouts kill me! I can color all day long. My mom said she panicked one morning when she went to get me out of my crib. I wasn't there! I had climbed out and gone into the living room to color! I am not looking forward to the day that my little guy starts climbing out of the crib!! Something tells me that he won't be as good as me and just color... LOL Enough jibber-jabber, on to the cards:

This one is the last one I put together and I like it the best. The base is aqua mist with four rectangles of chocolate chip and berry sorbet. The berry sorbet is inked around the edges with fresh snow ink and then stamped with one of the single images from Background Basics: Spots and Dots. Buttons and ribbon are aqua mist. I pierced through the paper and tied some white floss (or whatever, I don't know what it's called, but we used to make friendship bracelets and hair ties out of it when I was little) through the paper and the holes. That way I don't have to use a glue dot or something that may not hold. Bella's belly is stamped again and popped up on a dimensional. There is real tissue paper coming out of one of the bags and the bow on her belly and on the bear are colored with a glaze pen. The color of the glaze pen really does match better than in the photos btw. The little rattle thingy on the right side is covered with Eucalyptus Stickles for a little glitter and shine :o) Here's a little detail shot:







The last card was the first I put together and I like it the least. I'm bummed because I used my only two aqua flower buttons on this card :( It's cute, but it's lacking; which is why the other cards got a little more stamping added to them. Thanks for looking! And thank you for all of the comments lately! It's always great to hear feedback. Hope you are all having a fantabulous day! ~lyss

Oh yeah! The layout is a sketch from Karen Giron. She does sketch challenges on Sundays. I don't usually participate, but I save them since I am so layout challenged!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

We have a winner!!

I didn't have a card post, so I thought I'd sneak a little picture in of my guy at the park last weekend. He threw some dirt that got in his eye and smeared it all over his face. Classic boy moment!!


True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 50 Result: 23 Powered by RANDOM.ORG


Julie Magallanes said...
I LOVE blog candy!!!!!! Thanks for a chance!
May 9, 2009 9:32 PM
Congratulations Julie! I sent you an email this morning, so get me your address and I'll get your goodies off in the mail.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!


Warning: Long post - lots of pics!
My mom used to be a florist - well, I guess once you learn a craft/profession, it's never really a past thing. So I guess I should say that my mom used to be employed as a florist. Now, she is a grandma. :o) For Mother's Day, my mom made me this beautiful flower arrangement, a super yummy fruit salad with mangos, pineapple, kiwi, papaya and blueberries and gave me money to buy some plants for my garden. Oh, and the EK Success slim line punches that I used on a few of her cards. Aren't my flowers pretty?? I love them - such a burst of sunshine.

My mother is definitely the woman that influenced my love of flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, frogs and snakes. I remember when I was like 8 or 9 there weren't a lot of girls in the neighborhood, so I always had to hang out with my older brother and his friends. We were always bringing home snakes that we had caught down at the pond or in a ditch somewhere. She would let us keep them and build them little houses - that is, until one got out in the house. We never did find him... But I'm a little off of the subject. Here is the gift that I made for a fantastic woman that has been such an inspiration in my life.
I really wanted to make my mom a set of monogrammed cards/envelopes and use the My Timeless Template All Boxed Up to package it up for her. Then I started second guessing myself that she wouldn't want all those plain monogrammed cards. Of course, I made this decision mere days before I actually needed to give her the gift! I am the Queen of Procrastination! So all day Saturday before M day and the actual morning of, were spent making a few cards to put in the gift. The center box is also a My Timeless Template called Get a Handle On It. I forgot to take more pics of it, so the deets on this little box are: Rose Red cardstock stamped in Memento tuxedo black with the small blossom from Verve's Grateful Elegance. The viney floral image is from Verve's Because of You. Each blossom has a dot of Fruit Punch Stickles in the center for a little pop! The large blossom is stamped again, colored with Copics and popped up on a dimensional. The mother image is from PTI's Mother set. It is filled with yummy, nummy Lindt chocolates in caramel, hazelnut & cappuccino. The cappuccino ones are kind of like crack - don't try one, you'll become addicted!!

Here's the All Boxed Up package. The DP is from PTI - Black and White Basics. I just took a couple Copics and colored it to suit my needs. Top portion is run through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. Ribbon and buttons are PTI as is the monogram. It is from the Simply Stationery set and is cut out with the Labels 3 Nestabilities.
Inside I tucked the following cards:
This one is SU! From the Garden and Inkdinkado Garden Delight. I colored it with my pencils and OMS and then made a 'sky' background with a couple of colors of pearlescent chalks. {I have a real issue with stark white backgrounds and one layer cards!!} The center of the flower is super sparkly with some more Fruit Punch Stickles.
I truly just copied this one from Dawn McVey - purest form of flattery!! BTW, this was her favorite card! It uses Dawn's set, from PTI, Damask Designs. I didn't have black rhinestones, so I colored some light green ones with a black Copic. I love this card so much, I made one for my own stash.
I was channeling Heather Nichols for this Birthday card. It uses my all time favorite stamp set ever (at least for now) Guide Lines 2. Inks used are PTI fresh snow and ripe avocado & SU! Chocolate Chip. I inked up all the edges with the fresh snow ink as well. It helped me to be okay with how flat the card is. :o) Hey, I may have issues, but I'm willing to admit it!
This uses the beautiful Penny Black stamp, Modesty. I colored it with SU! Pale Plum (ink spot & blender pen) and Perfect Plum (marker). The stems and leaves are outlined and colored with the SU! metallic pencils. The sentiment is from PTI's Life set.
This card uses chocolate chip, bravo burgandy and more mustard. I was trying to do the Kristina Werner color challenge, but once finished, realized the color was supposed to be rose. Oh well! I really liked how simple this was to make, but how much punch it has still. Plus, it could be easily used as a masculine card. A little distressing to the bravo burgandy layer, some sponging of some Ranger Tea Dye ink around the main image and some brads finish this card off.

The last card I showed on my last post. Her actual M Day card is in the post below. If you've made it this far, I am so very proud of you! Don't forget to scroll down a bit to my blog candy post - I made it easy, all you have to do is leave a comment!
Also, check my sidebar for a couple of other amazing blog candy giveaways!
Thanks for all the comments on everything ladies, it truly means a lot to me! Hope you are having a fantastic day! Toodle-loo! :o) lyss

Monday, May 11, 2009

Raspberry Suite color challenge

In the next couple of days I have two very long posts for you. For Mother's Day, I used Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates of All Boxed Up to gift some custom cards to both my mom and mom-in-law. This past weekend, I needed to finish a few cards for my mom so I sought out inspiration across the great expanse of cyberworld!
In comes Dawn McVey with her Raspberry Suite Color Challenge! Such a gorgeous color combo. I'm not super happy with how the card turned out, but that is partially because I didn't add as much to it as I normally would have. I needed these cards to be pretty flat, not too much dimension or ribbons/bows or fun stuff! Ack! Talk about a challenge!
Anyhow, here's the card:

The main gray panel is from a card that I was supposed to make at a Stampin' Up! party a couple of months ago. I didn't really like the card, so I saved the image. When I saw Dawn's color challenge, I knew I could use it up! I used a Copic marker to color the flowers on the embossed image and then added Cotton Candy Stickles to the centers. The sentiment is from Raspberrry Suite's set Damask Designs available through Papertrey Ink and is stamped in PTI fresh snow ink. Card base is PTI Raspberry Fizz and the scalloped strip is SU! Regal Rose. I did the scalloped border with another slim line EK Success punch that my mom got me for Mother's Day.
Lastly, thanks to my friend Annie for this lovely little blog badge! Too many *greats* out there to pass it on to! Hope you have a groovy day! I'm still feeling groovy from the muscle relaxant that I took last night! Thanks for stopping by! ;o) lyss

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

Don't forget to enter for my blog candy below!!

K...I don't know if I am getting this in on time. If I miss it, oh well! Spending time with family is much more important. My grandma turned 92 on Friday and she spent the day hopping around to all of my brother's (I have 3) houses. Around 7:30 tonight, we went over to my parent's house to say hello and let her see Zane, her 7th great-grandchild.

Here's my entry for the Mojo Monday blog. I keep struggling with these sketches. There is just too much involved for me! I think I was supposed to have another layer on the bottom, but it just felt like it would be too cluttered if I added more.
The main image is a Penny Black stamp called Solidago Sprig. I colored the stem with a Mellow Moss marker and blotted the flower parts with PTI (Papertrey Ink) Hibiscus Burst and then Raspberry Fizz. Main image is matted on PTI Raspberry Fizz. The base, main image panel and sentiment panel are PTI Soft Stone. I LOVE this new color/non-color. It is gorgeous! The background stamp is a script stamp that I got at Michael's and is stamped in VersaMark. The punch is one of the new EK Success slim line border punches. My mom got those for me for Mother's Day and gave them to me early so I could play. I thought it only appropriate that I use it on her card. Thanks Mom! :o) The sentiment is from Verve Stamps Because of You. I thought it looked a bit plain, so I added some piercing. Once it was all put together, I added a little stardust Stickles to the blossoms - detail shot below. Forgot to take a shot of the inside, but I used both Verve's Because of You and PTI's Mother sets for sentiments. They both had such meaningful sentiments this year that I had to buy both. So, naturally, I had to use both! Hope you likey!! And I hope that all you wonderful mothers are having a fantastical Mother's Day and being spoiled beyond bounds!


Friday, May 8, 2009

I have Blog Candy!!

ETA: This post is now closed. The winner has been chosen. Thanks for playing!!
I have no specific reason for giving anything away - I just sort of feel like it! So here's the loot:
  • 6x6 Memory Box papers in Aerial, Inspire & Sprout (1 page of each design)
  • 6x6 K&Company papers in Hannah (1 page of each design)
  • Craft tote thingy
  • Hanna clear stamp set
  • Stickles in Cotton Candy
  • Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip reinker
  • Stampin' Up! Cool Caribbean classic stamp pad
  • Cuttlebug concentric star die
  • Cuttlebug mini embossing folders - Square frames
  • Ribbon, photo corners, & other clear stamps

What do you have to do? Post a comment. If you feel like it, go ahead and post it on your blog so others can enter too. I'll randomly draw a winner next Friday, May 15th. Good luck!!

ETA: Don't know what I'm getting myself into, but yes, I will ship anywhere on the planet Earth! :o)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Enjoy...

Hmph. I just started my blog post with a rant and promptly deleted it. What good will that do? Nothing! I haven't been in the greatest of moods for a couple of weeks now, so I've been avoiding creating or blogging. I'm waiting for the storm to pass, but it's decided that it must linger for a bit longer. I'm sure I'll plug on through, but grrrrrrrrrumble. Whatever!

Here is a card I made for a friend's MIL back in March. She wanted a card and bookmark combo to go with the B&N gift card that she was going to give her. Sorry for the crummy photos. I tried to take them outside and just didn't have the right light. Colors are black, PTI white, SU! Wild Wasabi and Rose Red.
The bookmark is painted with different colors of Shimmerz that I got from Jacksonbelle Embelleshmints. Hope you like! :o)