Knowing When To Say Enough

You may have noticed that I have not had any posts lately for Lia Stampz.  I made the difficult decision to step down from the Design Team.  I had several reasons but one of the top ones was that I had to face the fact that I was just not good at colouring images.  I have invested in Copic markers as well as Spectrum Noir markers.  It hasn't been cheap even though I don't have all of the colours.  I tried watching countless YouTube videos showing shading and using colourless blenders.  I realize that practice makes perfect but so many times I could've sworn that a child in kindergarten could've done a better job.  LOL  Every couple of weeks I was expected to come up with a card, a tag or some sort of project using an image that I had to colour and I tell you it was stressing me out to the point where I wasn't enjoying it so I made the decision to step down.  As I said there were other reasons as well but this was a biggie.  I will still try out for other Design Teams but I doubt it will be for any companies where I have to colour images and make them my focal point on a card.  I would very much like to try for a DT where paper is the focus.  I can come up with my own designs but focus on the paper. 

Sympathy Card...This year I've sadly needed many

Sympathy cards are always a hard card for me to make.  Quite often I try to just make up some pretty cards, leave them blank and then fill them in as needed with a sentiment.  A friend of mine lost her father in law a few days ago.  She's a special friend so I wanted to make up a special card for her.  I wanted to make something that her husband might like as well.  So this is what I came up with.  Let me know what you think.  Patterned paper is from Gina K Designs.  Cardstock was from my stash.  Round scalloped was done with a Recollections punch.  Plain circles done with Recollections punch.   Ship is from.  Label is Spellbinders.  Sentiment stamp is Close To My Heart. 

More Christmas Cards!

I can honestly say that everyone got a unique Christmas card this year.  Even some of the ones that look similar have something different about them.  That was quite the job I tell you.  I believe I sent out around 75 cards, give or take 1 or 2.  That's 75 different cards.  I'm proud of myself.  Here are some pics featuring some more of the cards. 

The Perfect Birdhouse! What do you think?

A little while ago I was given a couple of boxes filled with matching tea cups and saucers.  They weren't anything special as in expensive sets.  They were just the kind that come with inexpensive dish sets.  I knew that I would never use that many but wanted to repurpose them somehow so they wouldn't be wasted.  I decided to try and make something with them.  For a couple of months now I've been purchasing those little wooden birdhouses that all of the craft stores are selling.  You know the ones that are selling for a dollar or close to it.  Anyway I had lots of cups and saucers and lots of birdhouses so why not combine them and make something decorative and pretty.  Many of the birdhouses came with a loop of cord coming out of the top so they could be hung.  I wasn't able to remove the cord so I just pushed it back inside the hole of the birdhouse.  Hubby helped me out by attaching dowels to the birdhouses so that I could have the birdhouses sitting inside the teacup. 
They were attached to the teacup with oasis (green foam that florists use) and E6000.  The top was covered with Spanish moss to hide the workings.  I covered the birdhouse with paper and then used ribbons, flowers and whatever else I had on hand to make it look as pretty as I could.  I have a picture here of 2 of them.  I thought they turned out really pretty.  What do you think? 

 

Christmas Cards

I've been really busy the last few weeks as I've tried to get my Christmas cards made as well as being involved in several craft fairs.  There have been a lot of late nights along with some all nighters.  This year I've done something pretty different for me in that I didn't just pick a card or two and mass produce them.  As you can see I actually came up with a lot of unique cards.  The other difference this year is that I joined a Die Cut Group on Facebook.  We have been sending each other different die cuts so that we can stretch our supplies.  Some of these girls have got the most beautiful and intricate dies.  I need to start getting some more of those.  They are just exquisite!  I hope you enjoy my cards and as always I welcome your comments. 

Challenge #76 Lia Stampz themed Black and White Plus 1 Other Colour

We're up to Challenge #76 at Lia Stampz.  The theme this week is black and white plus one other colour.  I chose kraft.  I made a tag using one of those adorable new little witches that Lia drew.  There's 3 witches and it was tough to pick which one I wanted to use.  I had already used the witches in my last post as well.  (Layout of the kids at Halloween.)  Halloween may be over but if you want to pick up these digis and use them for next year, this is where you can purchase them.   If you would like to join us in this challenge, come and join us here.

 

Halloween 1994 with The Kiddos

I was going through a box of old photos of the kids and came across this one from Halloween in 1994!  Jordan was 6, Sarah was 3 and Ryan was 20 months.  I really want to try and make a dent in the pictures of the kids and start getting them all scrapbooked.  Hard to believe that Jordan is now 26, Sarah is 23 and Ryan is 21. 

For this layout I used the paper from The Witches Brew stack from DCWV.  I used digis from Lia Stampz for the adorable little witches, pumpkin and cats.  The digis are on sale until October 26 for the amazing price of $2.40 for 9 digis.  If you're looking for additional inspiration check out   my Pinterest page, Lia's Facebook page or her Pinterest page

Challenge #75 at Lia Stampz themed "Spooky Cute"

Welcome to Challenge #75 at Lia Stampz!  The theme for this challenge is to make your project look Spooky Cute.  I decided to do double duty with this challenge.  Not only to follow the theme but I decided to turn a digi meant for Christmas into a Halloween themed image.  I used the one called "Christmas Mice" which can be found here. 

I used the Christmas ornament and drew in a face and made it into a Jack'oLantern.  I was hoping to prove that you don't always have to have the same tools that others are using for their projects.  Just use what you have and use your imagination to turn it into what you need. 

Here's my card.  I hope you like it.  It was actually a lot of fun to 'think outside the box.'

You can enter the challenge here.  Get quirky with it to impress our DT and you might end up on the spotlight!

You can read the detailed rules here
*You DON'T have to use a LiaStampz image (can be any stamp/digi stamp/ embellishment-not even an image).

*If you use a Lia Stampz image you can enter the Random draw 2 times!

*Please don't link more than ONE project unless you use a LiaStampz image.
*You can participate in an unlimited number of other challenges, we don't mind.

 

DCWV\s Stackaholic Challenge for September

WhooHoo!  I am so excited to tell you that one of my cards was chosen for the DCWV's September card challenge.  I used The Primrose stack to make this card.  This has got to be one of my all time favourite stacks from DCWV, although it is really difficult to choose because they have so many gorgeous papers.  However, this one seems to always produce cards for me that I am really, really happy with. 

As always, I welcome your comments, good or bad.  Thank you for taking the time to look at my post! 

Challenge #74 themed Kraft and Distressed at Lia Stampz

Oh my goodness!  October 1st, can you believe it?  I know we are always saying about how time is flying but seriously we're into October?  The older I get, the quicker my life is flying by.  So we're on Challenge #74 at Lia Stampz and the theme this time around is Kraft and Distressed.  For my card I chose the image titled Grandma and you can find her here.   You can join us for this challenge at Lia Stampz and it goes until October 15th.  As always if you use a Lia Stampz image you can enter twice and if you choose to use a non Lia image, you can enter once only.  Hope to see your entry soon! 

Challenge #73 at Lia Stampz themed "Lavender and Lace."

The new challenge is up and running at Lia Stampz.  We're up to #73 and the theme for this challenge is "Lavender and Lace."  I chose to use one of the newer digis that just came out recently and she's called "Newsgirl' and she's available here.  If you would like to join us for this challenge ending September 30 you can find all of the information here. 
Get quirky with it to impress our DT and you might end up on the spotlight!

*You DON'T have to use a LiaStampz image (can be any stamp/digi stamp/ embellishment-not even an image).

*If you use a Lia Stampz image you can enter the Random draw 2 times!

*Please don't link more than ONE project unless you use a LiaStampz image.
*You can participate in an unlimited number of other challenges, we don't mind.