Are you ready for a THROWDOWN?

A Color Throwdown that is! Today Kate of i{heart}papers is sponsoring the Color Throwdown Challenge ~ woohooo! Look at all these colors ~ now THIS was a challenge!

For my challenge card today ~ I made a clever little Graduation card. I found this great paper that Kate carries at i{heart}papers by October Afternoon called Fly A Kite . The pattern includes ALL 5 colors ~ another WOOHOOO! I pulled out my much neglected Unity Stamps & used the cute patchwork owl from the Total Cuteness Store kit. Finally, for the sentiment, I used a set called Life is by Our Craft Lounge.

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Pattern Paper ~ October Afternoon Fly A Kite ; Stamps ~ Unity Stamps Total Cuteness & Life is ; Nestabilities ~ Labels 1; Ribbon ~ May Arts; Quickuts Embossing Folder; Copic Sketch Markers (YR18, E25, BG72); Palette Ink.

LAD Sketch Challenge

Life is Good ~ that's the name of the new Monthly Mix for June! Isn't that a fantastic name? The card for today is based on this week's Lizzie Anne Sketch challenge by Jeni. I took a few liberties with the sketch, but overall, it's pretty close.

So what do you think of my fisherman's knot ~ impressive huh? I looked up how to tie the knot on the internet. I thought it would probably take me a long time to figure it out, but it was actually pretty easy. I really love the added punch it puts on this card.

Go take a look at the sketch and see what you come up with for the sketch & don't forget to post your creation.

Life is a Picnic!

Picnic season is upon us ~ so this set called Life is a Picnic is perfect! Wait until you see the other cute images in this set ~ they will crack you up!

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Life is a Picnic); Pattern Paper - Cosmo Cricket (Garden Variety); Copic Markers (C1, C3, C5, E31, E33, R27, R22, Y17, YG03); Sparkly Fluff - Appletini Green; Quickuts Embossing Folder.

Have a Tweet Sunday!

Happy Sunday ~ no chit chat today peeps. Just wanted to share this cute little guy with ya! Hope your weekend is Fabulous!

Designed by Kendra Wietstock

Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Tweet Thang)

Try a Mix Day at Lizzie Anne...

Woohooo ~ it's the weekend & I'm really excited about today's project. I don't do Shabby ~ in fact, I'm usually pretty bad at it. However, I like how this one turned out and I'd say it's in the Shabby category. Anyway, I used the June Monthly Mix (Life is Good) for the bird image and sentiment and then the music background from the April Monthly Mix (It's Good to be Queen) behind the bird. I just stamped it lightly with some antique linen ink.

So speaking of the Monthly Mix... for today only (Saturday) the Lizzie Anne girls are have a Try a Mix Sale. You can purchase one of the four pre-selected Monthly Mix sets and purchase it at the low club price of $25 rather than the non-club price of $39.99 ~ THAT IS A DEAL! The 4 sets are:

November '09: Christmas Wishes
December '09: Celebrate
February '10: Singing in the Rain~ which is one of my favorites!
April '10: It's Good to be Queen~ which I used above.

Remember this sale is for TODAY only!

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Lizzie Anne Designs (Life is Good ~ June Monthly Mix; It's Good to Be Queen ~ April Monthly Mix); Cardstock ~ Prism; Pattern Paper ~ October Afternoon (Thrift Shop); Ink ~ Palette, Copics; Nesties; Trim ~ Websters Pages; Edge Punch ~ Martha Stewart.

OCL Sketch Challenge #14

It's Friday & that means OCL Sketch Challenge Day! I decided to make a super bright card today using my Pretty Petals set ~ I love this set!

One of the things I really enjoy about working with clear stamps is being able to bend them into new shapes ~ like this flower stem. It is actually shown as a straight stem on the panel and that's how I've been using it. However, on my card for today, I curved it in different ways on each of the flowers. They kind of look wind blown.


For my flower buds, I colored them using 3 shades of yellow Copic markers (Y21, Y15, Y17), added some Lemon Drop Sparkly Fluff, cut them out & popped them up with Zva foam adhesive dots. And don't you just love this super bright pattern paper? It's part of the new DeLovely Collection by Cosmo Cricket.

Side Note: Did you know that on Cosmo's 6x6 paper pads they scale down the pattern especially for cards? Not all companies do that so beware when you buy their 12x12 patterns, they are much bigger (learned that the hard way).


Head on over to the OCL blog and have a look at the new challenge card ~ can't wait to see what you come up with.

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Pretty Petals, Say it with Flowers); Pattern Paper ~ Cosmo Cricket (DeLovely); Ink ~ Palette (Noir), Copic Markers (Y15, Y17, Y21, YG95), atyou Spica glitter pens (yellow, clear); Sparkly Fluff by Our Craft Lounge (Lemon Drop); Nestabilities ~ Labels 8; Zva Foam Adhesive Dots.

Monstrously Cool!

Just playing along with another Lizzie Anne Sketch #126 ~ I had a good time with this funny monster from the new Sixlet set called Little Monsters. I also used the old stand-by background set called In the Background. The pattern paper I used is from the Night Light collection by October Afternoon & I used some fun Rockstar Red Sparkly Fluff on the monster's back.

Simplicity...

WOW it's Wednesday ~ the week is just flying!

Well yesterday I decided to play with some Lizzie Anne Sketch Challenges that I printed out & had just sitting on my desk ~ this one is sketch #124. I love how simple this card turned out. I think you all know by now that I have a passion for pattern paper ~ no big secret huh? Well I just think this paper is perfect for the simplicity of this card.

The set I used is called Brilliant Blooms from Lizzie Anne Designs. It's a Sixlet set (yes, 6 stamps in the set). The stem and the flower are separate images, so I cut out the flower and popped it up with a foam dot. Then I added the sentiment from the Life is Good Monthly Mix for June.

Supplies used: Stamps ~ Lizzie Anne Designs (Brillian Blooms, Life is Good); Cardstock ~ Bazzill; Pattern Paper ~ American Crafts; Ink ~ Palette, Copics, atyou Spica glitter pens; Edge Punch ~ EK Success; Trim ~ Websters Pages.

IHP Monthly DT Challenge ~ Inspired by ...

Hello Peeps ~ once again it's time for the Monthly i{heart}papers Design Team Challenge. This month we are having a "featured stamper" challenge & our special stamper is the lovely and talented Kimberly Crawford. Kimberly also happens to have two brand new exclusive stamp sets available at i{heart}papers that just came out last week. They are called Very Square & Very Square Sentiments... and they are VERY FUN!

So the object of this challenge was to find a project on Kimberly's blog and use it as an inspiration for my own project. I found this pretty card called Shabby Birthday with the lovely trim & decided to use Kimberly's new stamps to make my own scalloped polka-dot trim with stamps and paper.

Here is a close-up picture of the polka-dot trim & stamped image ~ aren't these backgrounds fun? I simply stamped the background image a few times and punched out the little scallop circle and then layered them. Then I added the velvet trim on top to finish it off.

Well between Kimberly's amazing blog & the talent of the IHP design team ~ I can't wait to see what everyone came up with today! Here's the list ~

• Carolyn
• Cathleen
• Deb
• Gretchen
• Kendra
• Loretta
• Lori
• Lynn
• Megan
• Tracy
• Kate

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Mint Motif (Very Square, Very Square Sentiments); Pattern Paper ~ October Afternoon (Fly a Kite); Ink ~ Palette (Burnt Umber, Landscape); Velvet Trim (May Arts); Nestabilities ~ Square, Scallop Square.

Lizzie Anne DT Challenge ~ Gift Packaging

WOOHOOOO! I am all over this latest Lizzie Anne challenge ~ any type of gift packaging! I enjoy making & decorating gift bags or boxes BUT... I really love to buy printed gift boxes or bags and using stamps to enhance them or make matching cards. I love to hunt for bags, boxes, notebooks or pads of paper that I can use to inspire a project using stamp sets I own!

The box I found for my project today just SCREAMED at me "USE YOUR LIZZIE ANNE STAMPS!". SERIOUSLY ~ it spoke to me! I think you will agree that the images from Le Jardin & Jolies Fleurs match this box perfectly! Now I think the box on it's own it very pretty, but adding the ribbons and flowers on top ~ FABULOUS!!!!

They also had this matching pad of paper with the fun polka-dot cover ~ I just had to buy it too so I could have it match the box ~ too fun!

Check out the Lizzie Anne Blog today for more info about our challenge & you can also see all the gorgeous things the rest of the DT girls have put together today.

Tricia Ulberg (Lizzie)
Meridith Ethington (Anne)
Jeni Allen
Joslyn Nielson
Deb Felts
Bethany Paull
Wendy Price
Maren Benedict
Jeanne Streiff

It's Time to HOP!

The official start of the Creative Cuts and More blog hop will begin on Monday Morning at 8am (EST). If you arrived early, that's ok!! We are posting tonight to make sure all the links are working. The Celebration Blog Hop starts at The Die Cut Diva's Blog on Monday morning, but feel free to look around.

Several weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a blog hop to celebrate the new website for Creative Cuts & More. They had me pick out some of their fun new die cuts to work with and said ~ "Go To It!". So I selected a Circle Accordion Mini Album and the Apple Window Square Scallop Card - Horizontal. One of the really cool things about Creative Cuts & More is that you can pick whatever colors you want for the products ~ I picked Kraft cardstock.

So here are the two projects I made for the hop today. I used the new School Notes set by Our Craft Lounge.

Here is the cover of the Accordion Mini Album.

I found pictures of my son on the first day of school each year to include in the album. The background images are all from the School Notes stamp set & the alphabet set is from Hero Arts.

It's fun to see these pictures side by side and how much Matt has changed in the 5 years he has been at Concord South Side.

And here is the album opened up. I love how the Big Scallop Circle Nestabilities highlight the pictures and the cute stamped images.

The second project is the window Apple card. Again, I used the School Notes set to stamp the ABC/123 background in VersaMark ink and the apple image was stamped on kraft paper and then colored with Copic Markers (E07, YG95, E25).

The lined stamp is from the same stamp set, but I wrote the Thank You! in by hand so it would be the right size.

If you didn't start the hop from the Die Cut Diva blog, you will want to start there so you have a chance to win all the fabulous prizes they are giving away today & see all the details. There will be 5 prizes in the form of Gift Certificates and I know you won't want to miss out on that! I do know that one of the ways to win is by leaving a comment on all of the designers blogs ~ so make sure you leave some love for everyone.

Now keep hopping on over to Kim Howard blog & see what fabulous projects she came up with today.

Lizzie Anne Mix It Up Blog Hop!

Hi Lizzie Anne Fans ~ welcome to my blog today! I can't wait to hop around to see what wonderful creations you all have come up with using your Monthly Mix.

I have two projects to show you today & both use the new June Monthly Mix that is previewing TODAY! It's called Life is GOOD! Once again the girls (Tricia, Meridith & Joslyn) have put together another fun Mix this month. I also used this week's LAD sketch ~ you can find out all the sketch challenge details on the LAD Blog each Monday.


My next card is for Breast Cancer Awareness ~ how could I NOT make this butterfly pink? Both the butterfly and the word "hope" are from the June Mix.

So go Hop around ~ you can find all the Mix it Up Blog Hop details on the Lizzie Anne Blog post for today. Have fun!

By the way ~ my post for tomorrow won't be up until the evening. BUT ~ I have something very FUN to show you!!!! See you then...

OCL Sketch Challenge #13

Hi-dy-Ho Peeps! Welcome to another Friday and another edition of the OCL Sketch Challenge. I must admit three things today ~ 1) I love this project I'm showing you today; 2) I love OCL Sketch Days; and, 3) my project is a bit of a stretch on the OCL sketch ~ however, it was inspired by the sketch ~ so that counts!

I don't always share the sketch here on my blog, I thought I would today. The sketch is based on a card by Amber Hillman ...

And here is my version of the sketch ~ I made it into a gift card holder using the Fabulous Florals & Say it with Flowers sets.

And here is the inside where you attach the gift card.

I gave this to my BFF Michelle yesterday for her birthday. She asked me if I had blogged it yet & when I said no, she said "YOU MUST". I told her it was going up today ~ LOL! Happy Birthday Sweet Friend ~ one day early!

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Fabulous Florals & Say it with Flowers); Ink ~ Palette; Copic Markers (R81, R83, R85, YG03,); Sparkly Fluff ~ OCL (Cotton Candy Pink); Nestabilities (Labels 8).

School Notes...

ACK!!!! Where did the school year go? It's gone so darn fast and it's time to think about gifts for the teachers once again. A few weeks ago I was playing with my new School Notes set and made this little notebook. Inside I filled it with notebook paper & made the covers out of chipboard. Easy peasy little gift!

So here are my kids on the first day of school when Matt started Kindergarten & Megan started 3rd Grade (August 2005)...


And here they were on the first day of school this last year (August 2009) ~ Megan in 7th grade and Matt in 4th grade ...

I'll have to get a picture on their last day of school too since this will be Matt's final year at Concord South Side. Between the two kids, we've been at that school for the last 8 years ~ wow has that gone fast!