A shout out for my friends ~

Hey all!  I wanted to give a shout out for a couple good friends of mine.  The first is for my friend Annie.  She is creating her own line of printable templates in 3 formats.  You can read more about it on her blog here.

The coolest thing about these templates, aside from the fact that my friend made them, is that she is selling them for the low cost of $3.50.  Not only that, but if you choose to buy the .svg or .gsd files, you also receive the .pdf file.  This is not something that the other purchaseable template companies do!  So scurry on over and get yourself her first template, Favor Box, now.  Oh, and if you hurry, you can get in on a little blog candy - drop a comment with a new name for Favor Box for a chance to win a copy!

Second, my friend Tonya of Stamp Happens is having a huge sale!!  Up to 50% off on some items!  She carries everything from Ciao Copics to Stickles to super cool stamps and even Nestabilities!  So hurry on over to the Stamp Happens store and get yourself some of those goodies that Santa didn't leave in your stocking!

K, I'm off!  I hope to be back with a little Favor Box of my own!  Have a fantastic Wednesday!!  :o) lyss

Holiday cards 2009 ~

Hey all!  I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, if Christmas is your thing!  If you celebrate something else, then I hope that was wonderful as well.  We just finished off our Christmas festivities this morning.  We only have my stepdaughter every other weekend, so we never have Christmas on the actual day.  Hopefully, as the little monster gets older and understands about Santa and such more, she'll come to spend more time with us.  Anyhow, we had a fun time and now she's off buying clothes and spending her gift cards with her father while I'm here at home with the little one napping. 
I thought I'd jump in today and show the rest of my holiday cards.  I wanted something elegant and easy to mass produce for most of the family/friends that are on my list.  It turned out that because of the little knot, I had to spend an extra twenty cents on postage.  Oh well!  At least I was smart and checked it out at the post office first!! 
Each of my holiday cards were stamped with the same sentiment inside.  It's from this cute little stamp company I saw at the Stamp/Scrap Expo, Bugawumps.  It says,

"Peppermint sticks that twist and turn,

Yuletide logs that brightly burn.

Soft downy jackets

And warm woolen mittens,

May your holidays be filled with

Family, friends and traditions!"

The sentiment is clear embossed on both styles.  You can't tell in the photo but most of the lines of the deer head are highlighted with a Sakura Clearstar pen.  I used the pen to draw the ornament hangers too.  It's very pretty IRL. 

This next one was for my closer family members that I was able to see on Christmas.  It was inspired by a challenge on the CARDS blog to use felt.  I've never cut felt on my 'bug; it worked okay.  If I were to give any advice, I would say to try to cut your felt to a small enough size so you can turn the piece and run it through the 'bug a couple of times.  All I had to do was use some snips, but it would've been nice to not have to do that part. 

 This last one was colored long ago for the first Embellish magazine color challenge.  I never ended up making it into a card, so I used this as a special card for my grandfather.  He loves my little guy so incredibly much.  Zane is my grandfather's first great-grandchild, so he's extra special!

Like I said above, each card had the above sentiment stamped inside and our family picture.

  I find that is still a little too mass produced for me, so everyone got a quick little handwritten hello.  That's all I've got for you today!  Before I leave you, check out my sidebar for some blog candy that I've happened upon.  I hope to be bitten by the crafting bug sometime this week!  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES ~

CARDS 1 & 2

STAMPS: Basic Grey Winterland; PTI Signature Christmas

INK: Ranger Distress Ink Broken China, Fired Brick & Peeled Paint; VersaMark; SU Chocolate Chip

PAPER: PTI Rustic Cream, Scarlet Jewel & Soft Stone; SU Riding Hood Red; DP Basic Grey Dasher

OTHER: Sakura Clearstar gel pen; Filigree Clear embossing powder; dimensionals; PTI Scarlet Jewel & Vintage Cream twill

CARD3

STAMPS: PTI Holiday Button Bits & Signature Christmas

INK: Ranger Distress Ink Pine Needles; PTI Pure Poppy

PAPER: PTI Rustic White

OTHER: PTI Rustic twine, Pure Poppy buttons & satin ribbon; dimensionals; felt

CARD 4

STAMPS: PTI Polka Dot Basics II; Whiff of Joy Charlie with Snowball

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaMark; PTI Fresh Snow

PAPER: PTI Dark Chocolate, Kraft, Pure Poppy, Spring Rain & SS White

OTHER: Martha Stewart Snowflake punches; dimensionals & glue dots; PTI Pure Poppy buttons; Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder; Stardust Stickles

Inspired by Challenges ~

I try to be organized.  I've even organized my reader with folders of challenges I like to follow, bloggers that love to give away candy, bloggers that knock my socks off with their coloring skills, etc.  Being organized does little for the mojo though.  I don't think I'm depressed - I just don't have the drive to get things done because I don't have somewhere else I need to be.  I can always do it tomorrow.  Does that make sense?  Anyhow, this card was inspired by numerous challenges: Color Throwdown #72 {Riding hood red, wild wasabi, soft sky, pretty in pink}, Whiff of Joy {sparkle}, Copic Creations #17 {Snow/Snowpeople}, Crazy 4 Challenges #15 {Snowmen/Snowflakes} & Moxie Fab {All Creatures Great & Small}.  Ha!  Obviously, I would've had to have drawn in a background with snowy hills or something to follow with the Copics challenge, but whatever!  Once I realized I wasn't going to make the deadline, the vision shifted.  LOL

This little cutie is from Whiff of Joy.  He is just darling, don't you think?  I love the expression on his face.  I drew a line in to ground him, colored it like *ice* and added a couple lines with a white gel pen for accent.  The holly berries have Stickles for an extra bit of shine.  I don't love the way the card came out, but since I wasn't following a sketch challenge {ha!}, I didn't really have much inspiration in that department!  The inside has a sweet little sentiment stamp from Bugawumps that I'll tell you more about later.

I should have a couple more glimpses into holiday cards this week, as well as a sweet 16 card I've made for my niece using last week's Mojo Monday sketch.  {Hee, hee!  Late again!}  Now, if I don't make it back, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!  I'm finding this holiday so much more fun now that I have a little kiddo that is super excited.  I want to find ways to make it more special and memorable for him. 

Thank you all so much for your support and sweet comments!  Have an incredible day!  ~lyss

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS:  Whiff of Joy Henry Mouse Ice Skating

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

PAPER: PTI SS White; SU Pretty in Pink, Riding Hood Red, Soft Sky & Wild Wasabi; DP Basic Grey Dasher 

OTHER: Xyron sticker machine; Doodlebug glitter; some other fabulous super fine and sparkley glitter; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Xmas Red Stickles

Mojo 116 - Teenish Thank You ~

Well, I thought I would make it back yesterday with this, but, man, I could not get it to work the way I wanted!!  I had two images colored with the cards *made* in my head - why does that never translate to paper the same???  Anyhow, this Mojo Monday sketch is fantastic!  I love it and have so many ideas for it!

 Head on over here to see what others have done with this sketch!

I'm pretty happy with how my card finally turned out.  I used a digi image that I won from The Greeting Farm blog.  Did you know that every Monday they show a digi image from the blog?  The more you comment throughout the week, the better your chances of winning the digi.  I think they give 7 away every week!  Make sure to bookmark that!

I colored little Ebony with Copics.  The fun part is her hair - black and pink tips!  She's a teenager in my eyes, so she needs to have some fun.  She doesn't want to be too polite and say 'Thank you very much', so she just says, 'Thanks a bunch'.  I really wanted to use my skull and cross bones die cut with this image.  I think it turned out okay.  Not much else to say with this one!  Hope you are all having a great day!  I'm off to finish editing the family photo and then on to addressing those envelopes!  :o) alyssa

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS: The Greeting Farm Ebony digi (limited edition); Verve Stamps Grateful Elegance; PTI Polka Dot Basics II

INK: HP printer ink; PTI Raspberry Fizz; Versafine Onyx Black (yummy ink!!)

PAPER: PTI Raspberry Fizz, SS White & True Black

OTHER: EK Success Fleur de Lis border punch; Cuttlebug Skull Cross Bones Die; Gunmetal & Cotton Candy Stickles; PTI Raspberry Fizz saddle stitch ribbon; Copics; Spellbinders lg & sm classic circle nestabilities

Just Because ~

Woo Hoo!!  I made it!  I finally finished a card - jeesh! This little ditty has been colored up for a while now, but I couldn't find just the right sketch to use it with.  I really wanted to combine some challenges, but in the end, I just went with one.  The Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps challenge - #9 Gift Card Holder. 

Isn't she cute?!?  I adore this little image.  I didn't have inspiration for the colors; I just wanted to do pink polka dots and then decided that green would go good with the pink.  The ribbon is white satin died with a Copic {R81}.  For the gift card holder portion, I just added a strip to the inside of the card:

Thanks for stopping by!  If all goes well, I should have a Mojo Monday card tomorrow and maybe a peek at my holiday cards on Sunday or Monday.  Turns out I need more than I thought, so I'd better get crackin'!  I'll leave you with a detail shot and the Copics I used.  Have a super Friday evening!  :o) alyssa

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Charlotte; MFT sentiment

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

PAPER: PTI SS White; SU Gable Green & Green Galore

OTHER: Copics; PTI white satin ribbon, vintage white button; white embroidery floss; faux dew drops (tinted with Copic); dimensionals; Glossy Accents (as glue)

Blog Candy winner ~

Whoops!  Seems I forgot that today is Wednesday and not Tuesday, when I was supposed to pick the blog candy winner.  Without further ado, random.org chose #3...Julie E, my friend and fellow Sketch Girl!  Drop me an email with your snail mail, Julie, and I'll get your set in the mail!  Maybe in time to get a couple of those 80 Xmas cards you need to make!! ;o)
I'll hopefully be back later with a challenge card I've been working on.  Funny how the mojo seems to be slipping away for a lot of us right now!  :o) alyssa

Happy Birthday Dad! ~

I didn't get to blog this yesterday b/c, as usual, I spent too much time putzing around in the morning and then had too much to do before dinner!  That's my parents in Germany this past September.  Happy Birthday to my daddy, the perpetual 39er!  He has never celebrated past his 39th birthday {for the last 21 years!!}  Dad has always been a lover of nature, but as with any male, he also loves cars, trucks and bikes.  I knew I wanted to use my Bombshell stamps for a little card for him, so I pulled out Speed Shop.  I fell in love with this card by Anya a while ago.  Since I always leave the important things {that intimidate me} to the last minute, I had to CASE her card.  I chose to go with the Mojo Monday sketch #115 mainly because it was super simple!  I had to make this card while the pie was baking, I was getting ready for dinner and the punk was still sleeping! 

I went with the same color of car because I love red cars!  I'm not a big fan of blue or even green cars - it's gotta be red or black for me.  This card is just a little 4.25" square - the perfect size to showcase that fabulous image.  I switched the sentiment to the opposite side of the sketch b/c it just leads to the inside of the card better IMHO.  The inside has another strip of the background paper that says, "to a real Hot Rod Classic".    So there you go, Dad!  Hope there are many more of your fun birthdays to come!!

Switching gears...I have to show you all something that I am super excited about.  Obviously, I love to color.  lol  I like to print or stamp out a whole page of stuff and color whenever I get the time.  Sometimes it's hard to carry all my markers around - especially when the punk wants to go to the park or something.  I found this little Caboodles case at Target that fits all my Copics in their cases!!   The Copics cases are the Sketch 36 size.  This little cube holds 3 side by side.  Yay!  Now my Copics can easily go anywhere with me!!  Just had to share that b/c I'm so happy with it!  Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please ;o)  That's all I got!  Hope you are all having a fun, productive weekend! :o) alyssa

Bombshell Hump Day Hop #13 *Naughty or Nice* ~

Hey all!  Sorry, I'm getting this up a bit later than I had first thought...it's that whole not adhering to a schedule thingy! lol The Bombshell ladies are at it again with a new pin up girl - Ms December.  Her challenge to us this month is:
"Ready to be "Awfully Good"? Santa is looking over his list to see who is naughty and who is nice. So lets send him our best project expressing which list we should be on.
Your Challenge is to create a project showing which side of the list you belong on. The Naughty List or the Nice. Make those Bombshell stamps shine and give Ole St Nick a reason to smile."
 
Since I've already done Naughty, I thought I'd stretch myself and try to be Nice! 

I made the little pirate wench from A Pirate's Life into one of Santa's elves!  I just drew some lines along her legs to look like stockings.

Here's a close up

This card actually used a lot of masking because it is 4 stamps - the wench elf, the bear, the hat and the pile of presents.  All the accessories are from a *must have*Bombshell set, Holiday Accessory.  Even if you don't have Bombshell stamps, you need this set!  After coloring, I realized I probably only needed to mask the bear!  Oh well!  I got to try out the Eclipse masking tape that I bought forever ago, so that's good!  The sentiment is computer generated and reads 'A little elf told me...You made the Nice list!  Merry Christmas'

Before adding all the front pieces to the card, I measured a gift card and cut some slits.  They're completely covered on the front of the card.  Some swirly flourishes stamped along the edges of everything and some distressing finished these cards off!  Now bop along to the rest of these Bombshells and show them some love! Oh, and if you're interested, I have a StampInsanity set for blog candy in the post below this!  Have fun!!  ~alyssa

Erika *Ms. December*
Angela
Katie
Alyssa {you're already here!}
Terra
Sarah
Kathi
Kas
Gabby

SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: Bombshell Stamps A Pirates Life & Holiday Accessory; Basic Grey Winterland
INK: HP printer ink; Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Antique Linen; PTI Vintage Touch duo
PAPER: PTI Ripe Avocado, Rustic White, Scarlet Jewel & Vintage Cream; Basic Grey Wassail 
OTHER: Copics; Sakura Clearstar gel pen; White fun flock; Spellbinders large & small petite oval nestabilities; exacto knife

A Giving Elf {and some blog candy} ~

Good morning!  I meant to get this posted yesterday but haven't been able to get myself on much of a schedule. lol  I've been sleeping in (until the monster starts screaming) and just doing things at my own pace.  Hubby has an extra day off during the winter months, so we've been spending a lot of time together as a family.  Today I think we are going to drop the punk off with my parents, go to lunch and hang Xmas lights.  Cross your fingers for me...I'm very afraid of heights, so I'm hoping I get to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground!!  On to my project:

 I found these blank gift bags at one of the big chain stores for 2/$1.  How cute to stamp your own giftbags!  It's even easier than a printable template, although those are pretty easy too!  Anyhow, I took Snowflake Serenade and stamped snowflakes in Enchanted Evening, Fresh Snow and a silver ink all over the front and back of the bag.  I decided to not worry about the sides. 

This little bag needed a cute little tag. Beth, owner StampInsanity Stamps, chose to split some of her holiday releases into digital images that are available for a limited time.  If you prefer rubber, they are available in red rubber as full sets too!  I couldn't resist the digi Naughty or Nice Henry image.  He's such a cutie with his little present and peppermint stick!  He is colored up with Copics and cut out with a little white border so that he would stand out better on the dark blue background.  The tag is stamped with white and silver snowflakes and a silver sentiment. 

  The back is stamped with TO and FROM from the PTI Fresh Alphabet set.  I used a white gel pen to write the names.  It's tied to the giftbag with some silver wired ribbon.  Easy peasy!  I stuffed some super cute white fuzzy boot slippers in this bag.  Voila!  I am already finished wrapping my first Xmas present!! 

I have a little giveaway today too!  I have a red rubber set of Morgan's Star to give away today.  If you are interested all you have to do is leave a comment answering this question: what is your favorite easy dinner to make for your family?  I love to spend as much time in my craft cave as I possibly can, so I like easy dinners! lol  Here's a little look at the stamp set you're playing for:

 I'll leave this candy open until I choose to wake up next Tuesday, December 8. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  Make sure to stop by tomorrow - the Bombshell Hotties are at it again with another hop introducing Ms. December!  Hope you have a fantastic day!  :o) alyssa

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS: StampInsanity Stamps Naughty or Nice Henry digi; PTI Fresh Alphabet, Holiday Wishes & Snowflake Serenade

INK: HP printer ink; PTI Enchanted Evening & Fresh Snow; random silver ink

PAPER: PTI Enchanted Evening & SS White

OTHER: Copics; white gel pen; crop-a-dile