leaving on a jet plane

I haven't had time to do anything else but get ready for this wonderful trip we are about to go on. Have a wonderful two weeks. Do you think they stamp in Greece? lol I'll be in the Plaka looking for a stamping store!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Swim For Play For PINK

We held our Swim a thon yesterday and it was so hot. The weather was perfect for swimming. We raised over $5200 yesterday, and are still collecting pledges which will be donated to Play For PINK, an organization that raises money for Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Here are just a few pictures taken during the event.
I'll be packing this weekend. Only 4 days until we leave for VaKa! I still have some things that I need to get done for our trip, and yesterday, my box from SU arrived...I will have to make some time to play with all my new goodies! Hopefully, I'll get to my box and be able to post something for you!
Have a wonderful day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Grazia Roma

This is a quick thank you card going out to my in laws. They sent us a lovely gift of bottles of wines and other delicious items imported from Italy.
it was a very quick card. The main image, and the script Italian BG are from RibberStamp Ave.
I have such a crazy week. Did I mention that I am in charge of a swim a thon to raise money for Breast Cancer Research? That's happening this Thursday. I don't have much time for stamping this week, but you know that I will try to squeeze sometime in!
Enjoy! It's Monday! ( and that means, DH is back to work, and the kids are working! lol)
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Mr. Gruffles smells the lilacs

My husband did drag me away from my copics last night, and we had a fantastic dinner al fresco at a lovely restaurant in Greenwich, CT. Our evening was very romantic but as soon as I came home I went back to coloring. LOL! I liked working with the copics. This was actually my first time using them, (and they are an investment) and I need to work with them a little more to get the blending to work. I have been working with the prisma color pencils and OMS for awhile and know what to do with them. But I have to say that coloring with the copics took so much less time!
I used crystal effects on the flowers and then sprinkled a little dazzling diamonds on top of the flowers while the ce was wet. I tried to weave the ribbon through the side, added photo corners and punched out circles using my cropadile and placed them under the baubles to add some color.
If you don't want to be enabled, stop reading now! Dick at HM Stamps has announced that HM has just added over 30 new images of House Mouse to their line! They are adorable. My order went in right away!
Enjoy!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Copics and HM's

Ok so i spent way too much time on the computer today. a friend *wink* Sarah sent me to look at another blog to look at a House Mouse image colored with Copics. Check this out. Amazing. I love it. this is the conversation in my house right now..

DH...Lorraine, ahhh, is there any dinner tonight?
Me...oh, no sorry honey, i've been kind of busy today!
DH...well then, do you want to go out to eat?
Me...I don't know! I have to play with my HM's and my Copics!
DH...you're playing with what?
me...you know, HM's...you know the House Mouse stamps!!!
DH...Oh, right (rolling eyes) those are cute..
DH...Lorraine, can I ask you what a copic is?
Me...(rolling eyes) It's a marker.
DH...a marker? um, honey...i'm hungry!

check back tomorrow to see what I've made!

The Invisible Fence and Pirates

The landscapers broke my invisible fence line again, so today I had to stay in and wait for the Invisible Fence company to come. You know how they give you a big window of time and usually show up in the last hour? Exactly! I did manage to make two cards....I should have been packing... While we are on our cruise my two nephews will be celebrating their 10th and 8th birthdays. I wanted a ship or a pirate theme and remembered that I had made up many images from the Ahoy Matey set, and the coordinating wheel the last time I borrowed it from my sister in law. (When my son lived on campus at Pepperdine their dorm theme was Pirates, so in every care package I sent him, I sent him a little card with images from this set) Anyway, I would have chosen another color combo, but they were already colored and layered, so I had to work with what I had. I did add some stickles and some blue baubles to give the cards a little Pirate Booty. As always, thanks for visiting!
Have a wonderful weekend.
Smiles :)
Lorraine

It's all Groovy Baby...

I made these cards for the color combo challenge on SCS. CC174 . The color combo was chocolate chip, groovy guava,( I love the GG, especially the dp...it's really nice) and barely banana. Let me tell you that package of barely banana had never been opened! LOL! I needed to make some thank you cards that my dd has to write out and mail before we leave. I've been working on these for a few days now. I made 24! I added a prima flower and just had to stickle the centers, and then stickle some more.
I hope you're all having a wonderful day. Enjoy your weekend!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Challenge from Crafty Secrets

Stamps
Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps, Fairies and SU Soft Swirls bg

I made this for a challenge over at SCS for Crafty Secrets. I was thrilled when I received a pm asking me to play. Getting clues last night was such a hoot. I am so thick, I just wasn't getting it until someone practically screamed that the theme was black. Sometimes I can be as dumb as a door knob. LOL!
Thanks for looking!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

The countdown begins

You might see less of me in the next few weeks. I will have to coordinate packing for my family and there are 6 of us! Today is the start of our vacation countdown. In two weeks our family is traveling to Italy and Greece. We are flying into Venice and getting on a ship, the Emerald Princess for 12 days. This is a trip that I have been dreaming about for years, and it's finally here. My husband is part Greek and his side of the family is traveling with us. I think that it will be so wonderful for his father to be in Greece with his sons and his grandchildren. I don't have any Greek stamps so I used some images that are Italian in nature. I figured we're starting off in Italy, so it's keeping in my theme. The stamps are from RubberStamp Ave, and the sentiment is from Rubber Romance.
I just love the color combo of vanilla and black. And I am very happy with the way that this turned out. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Recipe
cardstock...Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Images... David & Italian Script from RubberStamp Ave, Travel from Rubber Romance, Weathered BG SU
embellies...brads, swirly thingies, sheer black ribbon, brads, word window punch SU

Should I?

Verve is having a little contest on SCS. I just received my stamps the other day and wanted to play with them. The contest is to make up a card that has Stars on it. Perfect...I had just ordered their Swirly Stars set! I have never submitted anything in for a contest...should I or shouldn't I? I don't want to make a fool out of myself! Do you think i over did it with all the gold stars? TIA!
All the stars have crystal effects on them and then they were backed with a dimensional to give the card a 3-D effect.



Recipe:
Image ...Verve Swirly Stars
Paper...Western Sky DP, river rock, blue bayou, soft sky
embellies...gold stars, gold dudades from somewhere, crystal effects, sewing on paper

And the winner is...

#7...picked by my dd. we cut up paper with numbers on them and pulled one number out of a hat.

patty w said...

OMGosh..this is just too adorable! I sure have fallen head over heels for these little critters! Can't wait until I can own some. Love the way you've done this card!

For the 4th, we will spend it with the family having a picnic at the lake. Then on the 5th, we are having a picnic for DD softball team...we just finished tournaments and they placed second...poor girls were quite upset, we should of had First! :) Long weekend for us spent in the sun and rain. I think we are all well done! My poor lips are sunburned!

Thanks for the chance at some blog candy, I'm sure it will be quite wonderful knowing your generous spirit!

Hope your weekend was wonderful and the party a success!

Hugs!

Please contact me by the end of the week, and I'll get all your goodies out to you!
Smiles:)
Lorraine

Blossoms Abound

This is a card I made for the color and sketch challenge over at SCS. I think it came out nicely.
On the first panel, I used SU textured Wild Wasabi, and then I scored the paper at 3/4 " until the entire panel was scored, turned the paper around and scored again. ( I don't have a scor pal and I'm sure that this could have been done with so much more efficiency if I did) I then folded each fold and dragged it through the Wild Wasabi ink pad. On the 2nd panel I used some su dp. i think it is Porcelain Prints. And on the 3rd panel I inked up my weathered bg stamp. I added some SU organza and grosgrain ribbon, some baubles and the card was finished.
I hope that you like it.
I'm not wild about Wild Wasabi...but i think it works in this color combo.
Have a great day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine


Recipe
card stock...Wild Wasabi, Purely Pom, Certainly Celery, SU Porcelain Prints
Stamps....Blossoms Abound, Weathered BG
ink...purely pom, certainly celery, wild wasabi
embellies...ribbon, baubles

Hanging out to dry

I'm posting a little later than usual today. It's been one of those days. Busy, but a good day. All the kids were working, and that's a very good thing! I love it when they earn their own money! It means that more of my money stays in my wallet. Yippee...more money for me. I just spent the day getting them there, picking them up...you know how it is...today, I wore my taxi hat!
I ordered some Verve stamps...can't wait to get them.
Have a wonderful 4th of July. We'll be BBQing, hanging out good friends, watching the fireworks light up the sky! God Bless America.
thanks for visiting
Smiles :)
Lorraine

I started off attempting a color challenge from SCS...but just couldn't pull it together with this image. THis is what i finally came up with. I don't think it's a color combo challenge, but I certainly think it should be!


Image...house mouse Pocket Fuzz
paper...Only orange, purely pom, night of navy, wild wasabi (some combo, huh?! lol)
ink...stazon black, prisma color pencils, gamasol
embellies...ribbon

And now something completely different...

This is something very different for me. I used SU's From the Garden stamp for the background. I think it's cutesie,(not a word) which is something that i usually don't attempt.
Let me know what you think! I live for the feedback! LOL
smiles :)
Lorraine

recipe
image...SU From the Garden
ink...Marigold morning
paper...summer sun, shimmery white
embellies...May Arts Gingham ribbon, Prima baubles, gold cording

More Blog Candy

While cruising the blog sites last night I found another blog with some amazing blog candy up for grabs. check it out! Scrapmetals Retreat
Her name is Lorraine too!

An uninvited guest

My husband and I got an invitation in the mail, but it's not really an invitation to a party. Very strange! LOL! ok, here's the story. We get this invitation informing us of our friends 5oth birthday, and how they are going on vaka with friends and relatives to celebrate his birthday, and while we are not invited to attend the festivities, we are asked to please send a card so that we can be there in spirit. This came from our friends wife, and i don't think our friend knows anything about this request because I'm supposed to send the card to a third party. I think it's very odd, don't you? or am I taking this the wrong way??? But hey, everyone needs a birthday card, and since it is for his 50th I decided to participate!
I immediately thought of Mr. Billingsworth from Eat Cake Graphics. And since i'm still in the patriotic mood he's red, white and blue. ON the inside of the card i used a sentiment from ECG. It reads...It's important to keep an open mind. But not so open that your brains fall out.... and then in very small print i wrote happy birthday. I thought that that was perfect! LOL.
My janome sew mini still had red thread in it so I went to town. However I did discover that you cannot sew through 9 layers of card stock. who knew? lol! It will jam the machine.
See you around!
Smiles :)
Lorraine
PS...don't forget about the blog candy in my previous post. Your going to love it!