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

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

Never been Kissed?

Sweet Sixteen and never been kissed? ...humpf....wdyt? lol
My daughter Zoe has been invited to a Sweet Sixteen party for one of her bff's! I love her friend Jamie and wanted to make a special card for her. I knew that I wanted to use black and pink but struggled with what image to use. While digging through my stamp stash ( I really need to organize them a little better) I came across this set from SU that has never seen ink! I had to have it at the time, but it got stashed away and forgotten! :(
I stamped the image with Momento Black and decided to give it a little tint of pink, so I watercolored the dress. Not enough bling, so then I added Cotton Candy stickles, and when the stickles dried ...I am so bad letting things dry...I covered it with crystal effects. (I really need to get that UTEE stuff that I see everyone using, but what the heck is it and how does it work?) lol
I added some pretties kit flat white pearls, and some large Heidi Swapp flowers. The heart is also by Heidi Swapp and is a ghost heart shape. I covered it with tinted Pink versa mark, covered it with heat and stick, heated it and then added some iridescent embossing powder and heated again. I hand wrote 16 with a black copic marker.
I made a puffy bow using SU's sheer pink ribbon (why did they stop making this ribbon?) added a pearl and a charm that says follow your dreams.
I then hand wrote sweet on the side of her dress.
The card measures 5 1/4" sq.
I hope Jamie likes it as much as I had fun making it for her! ...instead of a gift she asked that a donation be made to a charitable foundation in her name. That really is one special young lady!
Have a great day!
xoxoxo
Lorraine


Recipe:
stamps... SU Haute Couture
Paper...Black, Pink Pirouette, white, Ebaony & Alabaster DP by BM Paper Society
Ink...Momento Black, tinted pink versa mark, pretty in pink
embellishments...Heidi Swap flowers and ghost heart shape, SU sheer ribbon, Pretties Kit pearls, charm, stickles, and crystal effects

I'm still stuck on this color combo. I am just loving the simplicity of it. I would never have put these colors together, by now you should all know that I am color challenged! lol
But since all my supplies were still on my desk from yesterdays card I decided that I wanted to play a little bit more with it.
I used Inkadinkado Dot Flourishes, Prima Flowers, and brads. The dotted ribbon is from our Goodie bag that we received on the cruise from Nicole of Papertrey. The ribbon is fab!
The bg panel went through the cuttlebug with the Swirls folder. It was a little too plain so I used my white gel pen and outlined the swirls. I added just a few stickles in yellow on the dots in the flourish...love a little bling...oh, who am I kidding, I happen to love alot of bling! just not on this card! lol
I love the weathered bg stamp and always forget that I have it. I'm so glad it was still out on my desk!



I'm taking my sister to the doctor today. She is having some minor surgery on her foot and I don't want her to drive home by herself. She is totally hooked on this paper crafting and is coverting a room for all of her stamping stuff! I'll try to help her get a little more organized. I know that while I'm organizing, she'll be coloring! lol

Papertry Inspired Stamping Bella

This is a tote that we made on the cruise in one of Nicoles Papertrey classes. I loved the way Nicole designed this tote and her use of colors. Don't you just love the Kraft, yellow and white together? I still haven't put the other half of this project together, which is a note pad cover....I need hands on instruction! LOL! Isn't this a really cute tote?



I'm still organizing all of my goodies from our goodie bag and wanted to work with one of my new Stamping Bella stamps, called 3 Whimsey Flowers using this lovely color combo. I used a dotted cirlce from SU's Polka Dot and Posies set to stamp the background, and also used SU Weathered BG over the stamped Flower image. I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the borders and glued some ribbon behind the border to add a splash of color. All the ink is SU's Whisper White Kraft Ink. I added some stamping bella yellow baubles and some stickles and some ribbon to complete my card.



Thanks for stopping by today!
Have a great day.
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Toile Bunny

I'm scheduling this post so that you don't miss me too much while I am away! LOL!
this is a card that I made for the sketch challenge on SCS, SC198. This was really a challenge for me! I do not have any nesties, haven't given in to that yet, although I do pine to own them. I don't have a circle cutter that cuts in all different sizes, just my jumbo and mega circle punches. So when I saw the measurements that were required for this card I didn't think that I was going to be able to play in the challenge. So my measurements may be off a little bit, and things are just not perfect, but I tried.
I had this pad that one of my CCD students gave me and it is in the shape of 1/2 a circle. So I traced that onto the card stock and used my good old paper snips and cut out the shape the only fashioned way! No nesties, so no border, just good old direct to paper and sponging!
I added some su ribbon and got out my pretties kit, I tried to dye a flower but that didn't work, I didn't like the outcome so I added some primas and a stick pin decorated with all the little pretties that come in the kit!
Thanks for looking and I really hope that you are enjoying your day!
I am either lounging by the pool, sipping a cocktail, on a beach, sipping a cocktail or stamping somewhere, sipping a cocktail!
Big Smiles :)
Lorraine



Stamps...Tender Toile, Toile Blossoms
Paper...Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke
Ink...Always Artichoke
Embellishments...Primas, Ribbon and Pretties Kit

Cupcake Birthday envies!

My husband asked me to make him two gift envelopes for my nephews, Peter and Paul. They are celebrating their 3rd birthdays on Sunday. They are so cute! (The twins!) I'm gonna miss the party but not the fun! I'll be on Royal Carribeans' Mariner of the Seas while they are eatting birthday cake!
These gift envelopes are on the plain side, but I was really is a rush to get these done. You can really dress them up and make them your own by adding all kinds of embellishments, using your circle punches, prima flowers, stickles, dazzling diamonds, or what ever else you've got. The choices are endless!

This is an easy and fun project to do. It's a card envelope...perfect size for that cash gift or for enclosing a check. I think that they took me 15 minutes to do. It takes more time deciding color combos and stamps to use!

One sheet of 12 x 12 designer paper and 4 pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock will make 4 envelopes.

First start by cutting your card stock so that it is 8" x 7 ". Place your paper so that the 8" is across the top in your paper cutter. Slide your paper to the right so that the end is at the 6 1/8 " and score...slide your paper to the right again so that the end of the paper is at the 3" line and score again. Set this aside.

cut your designer paper 6 3/4 " by 2 3/4 ". This will be your cover on your envelope.Or if you'd like the entire envelope cute your paper 6 3/4" x 7 3/4". Iff not using dp decorate and stamp your paper. With adhesive place the designer paper onto your card stock so that it is on the end that is 3". Fold your card up so that the dp is on the outside and the smaller flap is on the inside. I used a 1 3/8" circle punch to make a notch on the smaller flap.

If you would like the inside of your card to have a finished look, but a piece of coordinating card stock 6 3/4 " x 2 3/4 " and stamp with a sentiment.

For the band around the envelope cut your card stock 7" x 1 3/8 ". Cut a piece of dp 7" x 1 1/4". with adhesive layer your dp on top of your card stock. This will be your band to go around the envelope. Fold your layered band around your card envelope so that both pieces meet in the front of the card. glue together. and then decorate...i used some ribbon that I had and glued this on top of the paper. I then stamped the Happy Birthday in Versa MArk and then Brillant Blue, and heat embossed with Clear EP. I punched it out with my SU Scallop punch! Use a dimentional to attach to the band. Slide the band onto the card and your done. Clear as mud! LOL! Thanks for looking.
Have a great day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine



Stamps...SU So many Scallops
Paper...unknown
Embellishments...ribbon, unknown (Nordstroms gift package I think! lol) Versa Mark, Clear EP

House Mouse Challenge Monday is here

Well it's Monday and that means another challenge over at House Mouse and Friends! This weeks challenge was a sketch. I just love sketch challenges.
The image is Monica with Pacifier and I think that she is so sweet! I used Berry Bliss DP with Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, and Purely Pom. I added some prima flowers and some baubles and some organza ribbon and then used the sentiment from warm words and printed it directly to the paper.
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Country Blessings

I worked so hard on this card! LOL! Really!
All of my embossing stuff was still out from my Zindorf card yesterday, so I decided to try more embossing resist using my brayer and some autumn themed stamps. I went nuts searching for this set and finally found it in a box with my loose Christmas Images. Who knew?
I stamped the leaf images in my versa mark pad and then stamped the leaves in really rust, and old olive. Dusted all the images with clear ep and heat set the images. I kept doing this with different images from the set. then I brayered over the embossed images using pumpkin pie, and really rust. I then followed up with sponging using always artichoke and really rust. I stamped two more leaf images and heat embossed them and then using my paper snips cut each one out. I wanted to add some copper pearl ex to them so I tapped the stamped images onto my versa mark pad, added some heat and stick, and then dusted the images with the pearl ex...heated them again. I layered them on top of some silk leaves, using glue dots and dimensionals to place them on the card front. I cut out the little acorn and used some crystal effects and placed the acorn on top of some gold sheer ribbon.
So what do you think? Leave a comment and let me know!
Once again, thanks for stopping by. I always appreciate your visits and live for the comments!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Johnson & Wales

My son is in the process of looking at colleges to attend next year. Yes, next year I will have three in college at the same time! Last weekend my son Stephen and my husband went to Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island. Stephen really wants to go to the culinary program that they offer. This is a card that I made for the head of admissions as a thank you for taking the time and meeting with Stephen last weekend. She was very helpful giving him advice.
Stephen told me that the school colors were gold and blue, so here's what I came up with. I used the chef from Viola, night of navy & brushed gold card stock. I used my cuttlebug embossing folder on the brushed gold panel to the side of the chef, wow, i haven't used the cb in a long time! The covered tray is on a brad and slides to say Thank You.
thanks for looking and have a great day!

Smiles :)
Lorraine

PS...If any of you have an "in" at Johnson and Wales will you put in a good word for my son? He's a great kid! This is the son who bought me a stamp set! LOL!

in the garden sympathy

My good friend Josephines' mother in law passed away. I wanted to make a simple card for her to show my support and let her know that I am thinking about her and her family.
I have always loved purple (vintage violet) and yellow (summer sun) together. I struggled with what image to use and then decided on SU's From the Garden large flower stamp. It is huge. I had to cut off some of the image to fit onto the 5 1/4 " square card. I colored with copics, added some stickles to the center of the flower, and added a ribbon. I stamped With Sympathy from Warmest Regards in Vintage Violet. It's very simple, but I think graceful and peaceful.
Thanks for looking!
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Still Crazy

My best friend Pat is celebrating her 22nd Wedding Anniversary in a few days. We've known each other since we were in strollers. Our mothers used to walk us together. She lived across the street from me. We've remained the best of friends through all these years. I love both her and her husband, John. They are great people.
I wanted to make something funny for them. I had an idea in my head, but it didn't execute like I imagined it.
The back ground paper is glossy white paper. I sponged it with 3 different blues, and then stamped the trees with craft ink and them embossed the trees with clear ep.
I used SU neighborhood wheel and cut out 2 houses, colored them in and attached them with dimensionals. Mr. Billingsworth has lasooed Edna Yells and is taking her away. They're still crazy about each other after all these years!
Enjoy
Smiles :)
Lorraine



I found some fabulous blog candy here! go now! lol

Slobbery Pooch

I thought that i would be able to wait until tomorrow to work with another image from my new stash from Whipper Snapper, but I couldn't keep away.So... I'm declaring this week to be my Whipper Snapper week to showcase my new stamps! LOL! Splitcoast posted a new sketch challenge , SC192, and I jumped right in using Slobbery Pooch. Isn't he really cute?



I used some retired dp from SU called Loves Me. Got out the Janome Sew Mini and started stitching away. I used crystal effects for all his slobber and on his tongue. LOL!
Thanks for visiting today. Tell me, are you loving this pooch as much as I am?
Smiles :)
Lorraine

Recipe
image...Whipper Snapper, Slobbery Pooch
paper...close to cocoa, cool carribean, regal rose, taken with teal
ink...bb, copic markers (it's getting easier to shade with them)
embellies...unknown ribbon, crystal effects, sewing on paper, dimensionals, scallop Border punch

Knobbly Gnome for MIchele

I'd like to thank those of you who have continued to read my blog even though it wasn't craft related. I did lose a few subscribers, so I thank those of you who have been kind enough to stick with me. :)

This is a card that I made for my sister, Michele. She will be 60 tomorrow. My siblings and I bought her a round trip ticket from California so that we could celebrate with her. Tomorrow on her birthday we are going to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in Hyde Park, NY. She's never been there so it will be a real treat for her. We have a weekend packed full of things to do with her before we put her back on the plane on Sunday.
I wanted this card to be soft and used one of my favorite images from Knobbly Gnomes. It's a retired SU set. The dp is from K & Company. Copics were used to color in the image, along with some distressing and some sponging. This card measures 5 1/4 " square.
Enjoy!
Smiles :)
Lorraine


Recipe
card stock ...Rose red, river rock, Pink Pirouette, K & Company dp
Image...SU Knobbly Gnomes
Embellies...River rock ds ribbon, baubles, prima flowers, rhinestone brad, and scallop punch

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

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

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

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