All projects on hold until further notice

Just a quick update on my move into my new room. It is on hold....
On a whim I booked a flight to go to Florida and spend a week with my sisters while they were visiting my father. I had a fabulous time with them. We laughed together all week long. But while I was away there was an accident in my house. The bathroom on my third floor flooded, and with no one being home all day the water was extensive. Water travels down and it leaked through the floor into my daughters bedroom all day. When my husband arrived home her bedroom was in ruins. Her bed, mattress, box spring, bedding and everything underneath the bed had to be thrown away, including the umpteen $$$$$ rug that was under her bed! But that's not the end of it. The water then traveled from her bedroom down and damaged my kitchen ceiling. So, I am under construction right now, repairing walls, floors and ceilings. This is what I was greeted with when I arrived home! ugghhh, that will teach me to go away for a week and enjoy myself! The repairs are coming along fine, but before I move my craft room from my dungeon I really have to get my daughter back into her bedroom. she has taken over my guest room and I am not happy with her cleaning habits in that room. So please stick with me. When I come back I will be back with a vengence!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Betty Bombshell

Do you love huh? I think that she is just sublime! I made this for my niece who just turned 20 and is so depressed because she thinks that she is now officially old. I told her to just wait until she starts pushing 50! If I had an image of Peter Pan I would have used that! lol
Click on the image for a closer look. I spritzed some gold glimmer mist on a sponge and sponged where the sand should be. Looks gorgeous irl!

Recipe
image...Stampingbella, Betty Bombshell or Bombshell Betty
paper...pixie pink, summer sun, black, white, not quite navy, K&Company Que Sera Sera
ink...momento black, Su markers, tim holtz distress inks (sponged around the image)
embellishments...ribbon, prima center kiss, su scallop border punch, gold glimmer mist

Messy messy messy

Embellies, HM Stampsm reinkers, embossing powders, misc items

more stuff, no room on desk or under desk!

embellie cart

desk, ink, ribbons, prima flowers, papers, markers, etc

more paper, thread, sewing machine

desk, need I say more? ugghhh!

my card rack


Could you work like this? I ask you!? I just can't do it anymore. I used to love going into my
dungeon and stamping. But I am just not enjoying the process anymore. My room is out of control! By looking at this mess you would never believe that I am usually a neat and organized person. I just have too much stuff! Between the sewing projects and the stamping I am just out of room in my little dungeon area. So I will be moving my stamp room into another room that will be just for my stamping stuff. It's going to take me awhile to do it. Right now I am in the basement and I will be moving my things into a study room that we have on the 3rd floor. It's a great room with wonderful natural light. It will really be a beautiful area for me to stamp in. I really can't wait to move everything into the study. I will be so happy there. The one draw back is that i have to clear out that room before I make the move. This is going to take me a long time! You'll be seeing less of me while I am making changes. But once I am moved I will be back with a vengence!
April is a crazy month for me with birthdays, and anniversarys so I will be making a few things here and there. I'll post as I make them.
thanks to all of you who continue to visit me and see what I am up too. I really appreciate you!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Lovely As a Tree

I made this card for my father in law. My husband is traveling tomorrow to go see his dad in Florida. He had surgery last week and is still recovering and will be for awhile.
His birthday is on Friday. so this will be packed in my husbands suitcase.
The image is from SU, Lovely as a Tree as was heat embossed. I messed up while spritzing with Shimmerz. Oh well, I really don't have time to redo.
I hope you are all well!
I'll be back!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

I'm packed and ready...

Hi, Sorry that I haven't been posting this past week. I have been suffering from Pink Eye. The first drops I used made my condition worse. I am allergic to them.
I am leaving tomorrow for California. See you all when I get back!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Potted Shamrocks

Here's another St. Patty's Day card that I made using images from The Cutting Cafe. I only have a few more cards to make for the Big Green Day so please put up with me.
It's funny, but when I was younger and other kids would ask what nationality I was I would say that I was only Italian. I don't know why I wouldn't say that I was Irish too! I think that I thought if you were more than one nationality the other kids would consider me a mutt! Now, I am proud of all my heritage...I am 1/4 Irish and 3/4 Italian, American born...obviously...lol
We do it up on St. Patrick's Day, starting with Green Eggs and Ham in the morning. I do make Corn Beef and Cabbage for dinner, but I have to admit that the cabbage is Italian style, sautéed with potatoes, onions and garlic!
I'll be in California again this year for St. Parick's. Which is great, because I get to celebrate the day more than once!
Here are some deets on the card.
I printed the images on Whisper White and printed the images again onto some dp. I sponged the image panel with certainly celery, old olive and more mustard. I cut out the flowers and added crystal effects to the petals of each flower. I added a bauble to the center of each flower before the CE dried. It's great adhesive! I paper pieced the pot , sewed the main panel on with a zig zag stitch and added a Heidi Swapp flower. And then when I was all done I decided to use an Ornare stencil to finish it off. Let me know what you think! I love the feedback!
Have a great day.
TFL!
Smiles :)
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Recipe:
Image...The Cutting Cafe St Patrick's Day
paper...Whisper White, More Mustard, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Old Olive SU DP
embellishments...ribbon, baubles, heidi swapp flower, nesties, crystal effects, Ornare stencil
techniques...sewing on paper, paper piecing, paper piercing

Sweet Cupcakes

I am trying to catch up with everything from yesterday. As I thought the kids didn't have school and they were in and out all day long with all their friends. I think at one point there were over 20 teenagers here. They kept tracking in the snow...I kept cleaning it up and then at some point I just gave up.
My niece, Christie is having a birthday soon and I wanted to work on a card for her today. She's going to be 23 on the 10th of March. I'm still playing with my printable images from The Cutting Cafe and decided to use one of their cupcake stamps. They are so adorable!
I am not affliated with this company in any way, I'm just enjoying my printable images and want to share the info with you!
I printed out the image on some Whisper White card stock. I then colored in the image using SU markers. The frosting on the cupcake was made using fabric applique. I used some Prima center kisses and some stickles to bling it up a little.
I love using my little bow maker to jazz up a card. I also added a little heart charm to the bow. The glitter heart is a ghost shape from Heidi Swapp.
Thanks for looking.
I hope you're having a sweet day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Luck of the Irish

I have been on the hunt for some St. Patrick's Day images. While browsing the gallery over at SCS in the St. Patrick's Day gallery I found an image that I totally fell in love with from the Cutting Cafe. Very cute images that you can download onto your computer and then print as needed. I am not so savey on the computer but was able to figure out how to put them into a file and print them! I am still figuring out how to print a single image.
Here's a card that I made using one of the images from the collection called St. Patrick's Day.
I used an ornare border stencil...I'm totally in love with this technique! I hope that you can see it in the picture. It really gives the card such an elegant look.
I made the bow using my mini bow maker and added a prima center heart shaped kiss.
We're expecting lots of snow. They say a foot or so...ugghhh I know that these kids will be home from school and will drive me crazy! lol
I am so sick of the snow! I know that March comes in like a Lion, but this is ridiculous!
Smiles :)
xoxoxo
Lorraine
This card measures 5 1/4 inch square.

Recipe:
Images...From the Cutting Cafe
paper...Handsome hunter, white, black
Ink...black, handsome hunter
embellishments...ribbon, white gel pen, Ornare border stencil, prima center kiss

Butterbean

I thought this bunny was just so cute. I found him at Michaels. I was searching for some UTEE, I know that I bought some from Joannes and I just can't find it...that is so irritating to me! ugghhh! I couldn't find the UTEE but couldn't resist browsing the stamp isle. I was on a hunt for a St. Patricks Day image and couldn't find any, and this bunny hopped into my basket.
I colored him in with Copics. The dp is from K&Company, Que Sera Sera.
Thanks for the visit.
I have a busy weekend ahead so I probably won't be posting or making anything new. I'll hopefully be back on Monday.
Smiles :)
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Recipe:
Image...Stamps Happen, Butterbean with Carrots
paper...K&Company DP Que SEra Sera, Bashful blue, certainly celery, blush blossom
ink...Momento Black, Copic Markers
embellishments...Baubles from StampingBella String of Pearls, May Arts sheer polka dot ribbon, SU sheer ribbon, prima flowers

Candy for Gabby

To get the winner I cut up strips of paper with numbers on them. I threw them up in the air and my daughter picked one up off the floor...

Gabby said...
Happy Birthday Lorraine! Hope your day is awesome and get some nice birthday goodies! :)

Gabby, please email me your info and I will get this package out to you!

xoxoxo
Lorraine

and here are some pics of the two lovely homemade cards I received.
Thank you, Nancy Ruth! I just love this card. So whimsical and fun!


This is from my sister, Marlene. I so appreciated getting this on my birthday! Thanks honey!

Where's My Villa???

Our vacation started off on very shakey circumstances. When we got to the resort they were so over booked that they gave our villas away. We were all so pissed off! I think everyone who checked into the resort that day was pissed off. There were so many angry people in the lobby it wasn't even funny. We never got into our villas, they put us into 9 Hotel rooms, not a good thing when you need to chase teenagers around a resort to make sure that they are staying out of trouble...OMG! We did manage to have a great time...being with family and friends is what it's all about...
As usual there are really no pictures of me in my camera...I'll have to wait until my friends email them to me!



Thank you for all of your birthday wishes! I received a lovely brak from Nancy Ruth. I've got to take a picture and post it! It's so cute and was a pleasure to receive.
I had a lovely birthday. I spent it in bed...on the beach!
I was actually very sick and two days before my birthday I had to go see a doctor in the Dominican Republic. I ended up getting an iv full of antibiotics for Bronchotis and strep. I was negotiating with the doctor to let me have some drinks. No alcohol! ugghhh.... at least the beds were very comfortable.


Still recovering from the Bronchotis...we're all sick! lol And I have a serious headache from all the coughing! I'm peeling and need to find a place in the sun again, real soon...California here I come!
I'll be back tomorrow with the blog candy winner!
I hope that you are all having a great day!
I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow!
xoxoxo
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Birthday Blog Candy!

Whose birthday you ask! Well it's mine!!!
Up for grabs is some blog candy, some Prima Rhinestone Flourishes, they stick right on to your projects and some lovely Prima Center Kisses. I've used both of these items in some of my latest projects. Go back a post and you'll see what I'm talking about! Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner one week from today, February 26th.
I hope you are all having a great day.
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Hearts, Flowers and Ships...

What a crazy day today has been. I'm running around like a chicken without a head trying to get everything ready before we leave bright and early tomorrow morning. We are a group of 22 people traveling. This is going to be a blast. My sister is coming with us and I can't wait to spend some relaxing time with her.
This first card is for my son, Stephen. I didn't have a clue as to what image to use. Somehow I don't think he would have enjoyed a frilly card. So out came the TAC ship collage. I used the sketch from Wednesday's challenge SC215. I stamped happy valentines day directly onto the dp in black and it didn't show up so I went over the stamped sentiment with a white gel pen. I think that he will like this! The dp is from Target. I combined it with black, riding hood red and basic gray...added some jumbo eyelets and was done!


This is the card that I made for my sister. I had just come back from getting my nails done and I ruined my manicure! It's a single layer card using Gina K 120 pure luxury card stock. If you don't have this paper yet, I have to tell you that it is absolutely wonderful!
I stamped happy valentines day with rose red. the sentiment is from a set offered by Gina K called Just Hippy. I used some Prima rhinestone flourishes...these are fab...they are sticky on the back and you can cut them up to use on your projects! I used two Heidi Swapp flowers and then added a Heidi Swapp ghost shape...this is where I ruined my nails. The HS ghost shape is clear so to give it some color I loaded it up with Versa Mark, then I sprinkled heat and stick on the shape, and heated to make it sticky. I then used dazzling diamonds. My nails are a mess! But I really like this card. I usually don't do single layer cards but had so much fun making this one that I made one more!


This last card is the card that I made for Zoe. I love it, even if I do say so myself! lol
Again I used Gina K 120 pure luxury paper and glued some Prima Heart Shapped Kisses to the card. I then drew stems in old olive from the bottom of each heart, and then added a little red ribbon. I stamped the sentiment in real red. So how do you think I did. I do good under pressure!
Well I'm off to fix my nails.


Have a great weekend and a lovely, romantic, fabulous Valentines Day!
I'll be back in a week with lots of pictures to share!
Smiles :)
xoxoxoxo
Lorraine

Boho Valentine

I made this card for the sketch challenge on SCS, SC215. It's an easy sketch and great for using up some scraps of paper.
This one is for my daughter, Chelsea.
You can't see it in the picture but the heart image was popped up using foam dots. I used my mini bow dazzler to make the bow and added a heart charm to the bow.
One more day until vacation time! 2 more cards to make before I leave! That means double trouble tomorrow. I'll probably use this sketch again!
Thanks for looking!
Have a wonderful day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine


Recipe:
stamps...MFT Boho Blossoms
paper...real red, vanilla, retired SU Cerise dp
ink...real red
embellishments...ribbon, charm, brads, Swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder

Sealed with a Kiss

I'm on a roll! lol
I made this for my husband for Valentines. It will go in my suitcase and I will give it to him at dinner when we are in the Dominican Republic! I am so looking forward to this trip! I can't wait to get my feet into the sand and the ocean! We are traveling with 3 other families so our kids are so happy that they all have someone to hang out with. It should be a great time. Am I packed you ask. Not yet! lol...it shouldn't take me that long...it's all very casual.
I wanted to make my husband something a little different. It's not what I started out to make at all, but it progressed into what it is and I am happy with it.
The dp is from Gina K and is called Alabaster ( I think). The sentiment is from the dollar bin at Michaels and the lip stamp is so old I have no idea where it is from. I added some bling, these really cool rhinestone flourishes that I purchased from Prima, and some stickers, a little ribbon with a ribbon slide and some brads.
I think that Steve is going to like this one!
Thanks for the visit!
Smiles :)
Lorraine


Revised 2/11...The lip stamps is from Stampabilities and is called Kiss!

Rockstar Valentine

I made this for my son John and am sending it out to California. It's not your typical Valentines Day card but I know that he will really like this. He plays the guitar and I wanted him to know that with all he's been through I really do think that he is a rock star!
I have so much to do before I leave on Saturday. I really should start packing, but I'm just not into it right now. Maybe later...lol
The main image was heat embossed and the stamp set is from Inkadinkado.
Have a wonderful day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

A Birthday Wish

It's been so long since I last posted, or created anything! It really felt good to go down into my dungeon and make this card.
This is for my daughter, Chelsea who is 19 years old today! I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday!
Last night we went out for dinner to celebrate her birthday. We had a Greek feast! very yummy, and definitely not on Weight Watchers! lol
As per tradition in our house I am making a special birthday dinner tonight. Chelsea has requested Ziti ala Vodka and Salmon with BBQ sauce. I baked a cake, omg, what a disaster, and it wouldn't be a true celebration without me making a card for her.
This is what i came up with. I felt like I was in card making 101 after being away from it for so long! I hope you like it.



Recipe:
Stamps...MFT, You take the cake
ink...momento black, SU markers
paper...SU close to cocoa, taken with teal, regal rose, basic white, SU retired DP
embellishments...Heidi Swapp Large Flower & flower ghost shape, flower button by Jolene, stickles, and pop ups
technique...sponging and paper piecing

My son John is really doing very well. He had plastic surgery so he should have minimal scaring on his face. We still don't have a police report. Apparently it takes up to twelve weeks to get a police report from the LAPD! We do know that the driver who hit him was arrested for DUI and there were no fatalities in the accident for which we are very thankful! I'll be going out to California next month to spend some time with him. I'll be there for St Patricks day again! However, I am not traveling with a suitcase full of corn beef this time!
I'm getting ready to go on vacation this coming Saturday. We leave on Valentines Day. Hopefully I'll be able to get some Valentines Day cards made before we leave.
Have a great day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine
***revised February 11th
We have now found out that the cab driver was killed in the accident. Our prayers and thoughts are with his family.

Sorry I haven't been around

I just wanted to let you know that I am alright! I have been having internet problems and haven't been able to get onto my computer.
I don't have anything new to show you. It's been very hectic over here. 10 days ago my son John was involved in a head on collision. He was in the back of a cab when a drunk driver hit the cab he was in. He was ejected from the back of the cab and was knocked out. He was rushed to the hospital and kept over night. My husband is with him now taking care of him. He had to have additional surgery yesterday on his face. I've been a lunatic being so far away from him and not being able to take care of him. Needless to say the last thing on my mind has been making cards. I know that you'll all understand. Thanks!
Lorraine