MFT fun!

How about a super quick post before bed?

I got this super awesome MFT set from Little Monkey's. I was SO hoping this was the one they would send me! I REALLY love this image, I think it's her hand pressed longingly against the window.

I paper pieced her dress with my snazzy new pack of Basic Grey - Ambrosia. It's pretty simple, but I like it!! The rest is colored with Copics and I again used my SU! Chocolate Chip ribbon. I really might need to buy a different color. Grin!

Enjoy~~~ Lara

Brr, it's cold in here!

Yes, we had snow! 6 whole inches!! Hey, for here that's a lot. When I was growing up we called that Wednesday. Grin... In North Carolina, that cancels work for everyone and equals over 700 closings. Yep, they closed the banks. Not only were we closed Tuesday but we didn't open Wednesday until 11am. It was awesome!!

Here are some pix I took...This one is from the front porch while it was still snowing.

Then a pix of the cars from the front porch.

Then I got a little crazy and ran to the edge of the driveway in my PJ's. I'm from the north right? How cold could it be? Really cold, let me tell you! Then Kev scolded me for for getting my PJ's wet.

Then it stopped snowing and Kev and I went outside to play. I completely lost my ability to throw snow balls AND I realized that I didn't own any snow boots. (Or other acceptable shoes..) Hey, we left the snow shovel at our old house when we moved. No need for it in NC.

Enjoy!!!
Lara

Whimsy Stamps

Have you checked out Whimsy Stamps? They have the cutest animal images!!! Needless to say, I was super excited to see that they were looking for a Guest Designer for February. You can check out all the details here. To play along you need to use the great sketch Denise provided.
I really like this Sketch, it's definitely a keeper in my book! I did take a little creative license in my interpretation.

I used Coffee Riley from Hanna Stamps and colored him with my Copics. I also used some SU! Markers as well. I am also pleased to say that I just may have figured out this new camera!!! Hooray! I have a nice space set up in my stamping room that seems to have just the right balance of natural light. Yea...

Here's a side view where you can see the Stickles I added to the cupcake and coffee steam. (I really included this picture because I was super impressed by my ability to take a picture of sparkles and have them show up.)

And a close up of the sentiment. I fiddled with it for a LONG time last night and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Well, you only have 1 more day to submit your entry for this month's contest! Hurry yourself up and show your stuff!!!

If you weren't aware, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Woot Woot! Growing up 30 miles outside of the city and being a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, you know who I'm routing for! Well, We decided a few months ago to have a Super Bowl party. At that time I reserved the right to make it a Pittsburgh themed event should they make it to the big game. That means Pittsburgh Tail Gate food! Wings, pepperoni rolls, meatball and Italian sausage sandwiches and for dessert, black and gold smiley face cookies shipped from Eat N Park! (It's an institution)

So, I have to head off to the grocery store and get my ingredients!! Have a happy Sunday!!!

Paper - PTI Ocean tides, SU! Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey - Offbeat Stamps - Hanna Stamps Coffee Riley, Gel-a-tins coffee set for the sentiment, Copics and SU! markers, SU! Chocolate Chip ribbon, Stickles, SU! and Martha punches

Sweet Treats

So, I found some really cute buckets in the dollar spot at Target that I knew would be perfect to alter. Then I found them again when I cleaned my spare room today. I collected all of my alterables and put them in one place. Yea...

As is evidenced by my picture, I'm still trying to figure out my new camera. Yep, still working on it. For this fun little project I took this stamp from MTF and colored it in various shades of pink and red. I LOVE the flowered couch and bon bons. I tried to find the name of the stamp set but it isn't on their site right now.

I filled the bucket with some red crinkle fill paper and added a box of conversation hearts and 2 Target pretzel sticks tied with a pretty red ribbon.

And a close up. I used my snazzy new rectangle Nestabilities and then I added a little white gel pen as an accent. The sentiment is stamped on tiny tag and adhered it with a glitter brad.

I really like this little bucket with the candy. It was super easy to make and makes a great little gift. I'm always looking for something little for my employees for the holidays and all together this was under $2 for the bucket and candy. Pretty nice if you ask me

Enjoy!
Lara

Wait, I did have something to post

I almost forgot! I had something to post that I hadn't shown before.

It's Clickabella!! I received th image from my Bella Sistah and the paper in a shoe box swap. Sorry I don't have more details! Ummm... I can tell you that the ribbon is from SU! and Chocolate Chip. That's about it... :)

Enjoy!

Lara

Brrr.... Snow??

Wow, how awesome is it to wake up to a pristine white layer of snow on the ground? Then, how about you find out that your office is closed for the day? Yep CLOSED for the day! I had flashbacks to when I was 10 and SOOO happy when school was cancelled.

So, what causes the banks to close in North Carolina?? 4 inches of snow! Yep, count em' 4 inches. Grin... As a former northerner, something about that still seems a little wrong, but I'll take it!!! Kev and I made breakfast then went outside and played in the snow. Wow, my snowball throwing skills are severely out of practice!

Regardless, I was extremely happy to have one more day off. You see, the last 3 days have consisted of me clearing out my spare bedroom and turning it into a craft/Homemade Gourmet room. I still have a few more hours of work left to do and think I can be finished today!!! I'll post some pictures as soon as I do, along with some pictures of the snow that are sitting on my camera downstairs. I'm REALLY excited about the room. Prior to this is was a "spare" bedroom, complete with bed, but I had so much crap in it, it was barely usable. We'll be gaining an entire other room of usable space. Pretty sweet in my book.

K, back to sorting the piles!
Lara

A little somethin' somethin'?

Hi all! I have 2 cards to show you today. The first one is using one of my fantabulous gnome stamps from Just Johanna's Odd Bird Planet. I adore her gnomes, they are too flipping cute. This guy is "gnome tangled in lights" but, uh, since Christmas is over, I had to make the lights a vine and leaves. It works, right?

The card stock is Chocolate Chip from SU! and Kraft from PTI. The DP is Basic Grey Offbeat. A scallop punch, Always Avocado ribbon from PTI and a few baubles and there you go!

He looks a little nervous and I like that.

The next one is a card I made for the My Favorite Things Guest Designer Challenge. The task was to make a one layer card. Let me tell you, SO much harder than I thought.
This set is brand spankin' new from MFT and called Owl for All Seasons. It is super cute and can be used year round. I stamped the owls on PTI white card stock (6 times I stamped them until I had one I didn't smudge. Really... 6)

Then I colored them with Copics and SU! Makers. Then I stamped a few snowflakes and stuck some baubles in the center. Since it was a chilly winter scene I added some puff paint to the branch.
I love their little faces. Their beaks look like little smiley mouths. So cute. Unfortunately I was too late to qualify for the contest Grrr... I couldn't get a good picture of this card. Really the camera did NOT like it.

Well folks, tonight begins American Idol! Yes!!!
Enjoy!
Lara

Little Monkey News

I really do love my Little Monkey's Stamp Storage System. I was a big fan prior to joining the design team and so excited to be able to promote their awesome system! One of the best things about Little Monkeys is that not only do I get to try out all of their fabulous products but they have been partnering with other stamp companies in honor of their birthday so we can see how well the system works with all different kinds of stamp lines.

This month we got to play with some stamps from Unity Stamp company. I was super excited to play with their stamps and couldn't wait to see what they sent me!! I was REALLY hoping they'd send me the Jolly Little Winter set and they did!!! It is super adorable and I just love those penguins!

When I first saw the set, I thought they were just screaming to be made into a shaker card. So here goes. my very first attempt!

I just love that sparkly glitter in the card, it looks so much like fresh new snow. (Not the snow that piles up in the middle of the road and is all black and yucky, but the pretty snow that gets you a day off from school.) I used Baja Breeze card stock and cut the scalloped circles with my Nestabilities. I took a piece of a plastic sleeve and poured in my glitter. Then I sandwiched the glitter between another piece of card stock and lined up the scalloped circles. (That was hard let me tell you!) Them I lined up the penguin and stamped him on a piece of white card stock so that he lined up with the snow.

The snowflakes were stamped with Whisper White craft ink then heat embossed to make it sparkle. The ribbon is from Little Monkeys (It was wrapped around one of my storage systems) snowflake punch from Martha and the sentiment was cut with one of my Nesties. It really was a lot of fun to make and I have it gracing my desk at work.

I also wanted to show you how well the system organizes your stamps. Here is the Jolly Little Winter set on one of the Little Monkeys inserts.

Notice how much room there is left on the sheet for additional stamps! You could easily fit another set or 2 on the sheet. Also, I have this sleeve sitting at a 90 degree angle. Not a stamp is falling or sliding, all perfectly in place, exactly where I placed it.

Alright peeps, Sunday means laundry AND some Steeler football!! Woot woot!!
Enjoy!
Lara

Mmmmm Nuggety

Just a real quick post to show my first attempt at a nugget tin. I got mine from Paper Trey Ink. I'm sure you can get them other places, but I'm not sure where. I had to hurry up and get in some "winter projects" before it gets warm again. Oh wait, it's 60 degrees here. Never mind.

I used snow bunny Bella from Stamping Bella for this one. I wrapped the nuggets in Ski Slope DP from Stampin Up! You can see a little of the striped nuggets, but I rearranged them so that only the polka dotted ones showed. The DP in the belly band is SU! as well, but I'm unsure of the names. Bella is colored with my Copics and SU! markers. I used white puff paint for the fur on her boots and hood and she's standing on a bed of Stickles. Still trying to get use out of my Martha snowflake punch while I still can!

I really like the Baja Breeze paper I used behind the image, I think I may have found the final bathroom color I've been looking for!!! Yeah!!!!

Enjoy!!

Lara

Contemplation...

This year we didn't get to see family over the holidays. It's 8.5 hours to mine and 12 hours to see Kev's. Also, with him being a church music director, our Christmas Eve is usually filled with at least 2 services. We had a nice quiet laying around day on Christmas, one more day of work for me on the 26th then we headed to Atlantic City to meet some friends and partake of the casino!

I lost, I always lose, I know it's because I play slots and the odds are terrible. But I do so love the flashing lights, the spinning reels and the music. Love it, sigh... It's good that it's so far away.

We stayed at the Tropicana and it was fabulous. I love kitsch and AC is full of it! SO many track suits, blue hairs and wise guys. I LOVE IT. We had a great time with the friends and stayed an extra day after they left. that night we headed over to Caesar's Palace for dinner. On our way to the restaurant I passed this.

Mighty Caesar, ruler of nations, head of the Roman Senate, his face has adorned countless statues, buildings and paintings. The tales of his accomplishments are still studied to this day... Here he is, dolled up with a Santa hat for our amusement... Oh the indignity!!
(All of the Muses were wearing Santa hats as well.)

Then a lovely dinner at Continental YUM! We went to the Pier shops where I headed to the mothership. Sigh, Kev is very glad that we don't live closer. There are so very few things in this world that you can look at and fall in love immediately. For me, this is one.

Mmmm.... alright, I'm actually going to get some crafty stuff done!

Enjoy!

Back to Creativity

I don't know about you, but I had a great time this holiday season. But, as awesome as it was, I think I'm ready to get back into a "normal" routine". Time to go back to work, back to the gym, you know, all that fun stuff.

I also made a Resolution this year. I normally don't, but for 2009 I really want to be more organized. I'm generally really organized but I seemed to have lost it in 2008. I like being organized, I like knowing where everything is and everything having a place..... It's time to reclaim my space.

As part of my quest of organization I'm transforming one of the spare bedrooms into my craft / Homemade Gourmet room. Who needs 2 guest rooms anyway? No more than 1 0r 2 people ever come to visit at once and we do have several couches. Why save the space when I could be using it ina FAR more constructive manner. I plan to have that completed by 1Q 09, so I'll keep you posted on the progress...

I do have some stuff to show you. I got a little stamping time in last night and I was able to churn out not one but TWO cards. Yep, TWO! I'm making up for lost time and I have some stamps that haven't been inked yet!!

Here's Snowbunny Bella. Just like you, I'm not quite sure why she isn't wearing pants. I would think that if she needs to wear that big heavy coat that perhaps her legs would be a bit chilly. Maybe she lives here in NC though, I saw several people in shorts yesterday on the 63 degree January day... Even though we've been here 3 winters, it's still weird to me.

K, I used DP from SU! and from Basic Grey's Wassail pack. I admit that I made the base for a Christmas card and I never got around to stamping an image for it. Bella was colored with Copic markers and SU! markers. I tried to make the fur look like fur. Her hat reminded me of this giant Russian looking hat that my mom got in Canada in the 1960's It was giant and furry and I'm sure very warm during the Canadian winters. I do know that we (as precocious kids) politely asked her not to wear it in public any more.... I digress...

I got Craveabella because there is a pregnancy epidemic going on right now. I have 4 pregnant friends. 4... there must be something in the water... I'm drinking Diet Coke. :) So this one is for one of my oldest friends who happens to be expecting her 2nd baby. The tech said that she was 80% sure that it was a girl. Just 80%... Mmmm, I would like to start buying pink stuff and my mom needs to know so she can start her "winter project". 80%'s pretty good but there's always the "what if". I'm routing for a girl since 95% of my friends have had boys. I think we need some more girls AND the clothes are SO flippin' cute! Kristin, if you read this post, this one's on its way for you!

I did a LOT of paper piecing on this one. I pieced the footstool, the chair and her shirt. I thought about the doing the pillow but then I decided that Kristin would prefer to sit in a sparkly pillow. I also added Stickles to her pink slippers. There's puff paint on the sundae to make it pop. All the DP and cardstock are from SU!

I added this sentiment to the inside of the card....

Alright, I have a pile of clothes to fold. Wish me luck!
Enjoy!
Lara

I'm Back!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope you had a wonderful Hanukkah / Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

We had a great time the past few weeks, it was full of concerts, friends, family and food, OH LORDY the food! Thank goodness I got a new iPod and some gym socks for Christmas, I can hear the elliptical machine is calling my name! Anywho, I promise some pictures soon with my snazzy new camera (that is another story for another day! QVC once brought me much joy, now they hurt my heart...)

I do have a shameless plug to make for Starving Artistamps. If you've read my blog, you know that I LOVE their images. Scroll down to see some cards I made with their Santa's Sweet Shoppe set! The characters always make me smile and they are SO fun to color! WELLLLLLL, they've released a Valentine's Day set with some new stamps and some old favorites. Go check them out at http://starvingartistamps.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-releases-and-some-blog-candy.html Little Carmello and Esme are my favorites. Too flippin' cute!!

Now, go forth and let others know about the new sets!! Then go sign up for the blog candy, (but not too many of you, I really need to win the sets and the more of you, the worse my chances... BUT I guess it's OK just this one time.)

Enjoy!!!!
Lara