Who has news??!!

I do!! It's been a little over a week since I packed up my office and started my severance. The last week has gone by pretty quickly. My brother came to visit, we went to the beach, I had LASIK and we had a BBQ for 20 people. Now it's Tuesday!

I've had some news I wanted to share and I finally get to spread it, as of September 1st my creations will be sold at "Made By Hand" in Oxford NC! The store is on Main Street in Oxford and gets good foot traffic. There will be a variety of hand crafted items available there by several area artists. I'll be selling my cards and altered art. I am SO excited and can't wait to decorate and set up my space! Since I'll have a space, I need a name, right? That's how "Cookie Pie Designs" was born!

It goes with the name of my blog. You see I use "the cookie" to describe all things that are awesome and good. Often times it can be an actual cookie, but it can also refer to anything that is cool and awesome. With "the cookie" referring to everything awesome, what happens if you kick it up a notch? When the "cookie" is combined with pie, well, that is the absolute epitome of wonderfulness.

Here's a a little something that will be in the shop. I got this apple from Say it with Letters. I am a huge fan of their products, such high quality! I covered the apple with Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird paper and added some ric rak.
The phrase was also in the craft pack. I think this would be perfect in a kitchen or on the dining room wall.


Here's a close-up. I HAD to add a little bling dontcha know.

I can't wait to post some pictures of the store and my display. Wish me luck in this new endeavor!

Enjoy!
Lara

Royal Kat Wednesday!

Welcome to the Royal Kat Wednesday Blog hop! Hopefully you arrived here via Victoria's blog. If not, head on back to the beginning and see what you've missed!

As you might have seen, we had a fabulous picture for our inspiration this week, I just love the white, green and blue together! Here's what I whipped up tonight! For my card I used the fantasy mushroom stamps with this delicious Cosmo Cricket paper.


Alright, now it's time to head on over to Anessa and see what she has waiting for you!
Enjoy!!

Lara

Happy tree and new eyes

Happy Thursday! Today is a momentous day! Right now I'm typing this post wearing my glasses for hopefully the last time ever! I have been wearing glasses since the 3rd grade. That's right, the 3rd grade. I really don't remember what it's like to see without some sort of corrective lens. I've been wearing contacts since I was 16. (it was all I wanted for my 16th birthday.)

Today at 3pm I go under the laser and will soon be able to see unaided! I'm really excited and a little nervous. Hopefully the recovery will be short and I'll be back in the craft room in no time at all!

To tide you over, I have a little somethin' somethin' that I made a few days ago. I used some of the super yummy Early Bird paper from Cosmo Cricket and these delicious images from Verve Stamps.

I colored the tree with my Copics. I just love the bright happy colors!

Alright, I have to get ready for the surgery! Wish me luck!
Enjoy!
Lara

Royal Kat Wednesday!

Welcome back to another addition of Royal Kat Wednesday! Today our task, if we chose to accept it was t make a card using teal and pink. This was a true challenge for me, those 2 colors are not usually found together in my card making. So, hopefully you came to me via Victoria's blog, of not, please scoot back to the beginning here!

For this one I used dotty bird. She was stamped in Raspberry Fizz ink on Raspberry Fizz card stock. Then I covered her in Stickles. The thanks stamp came from the Seals set. So, pink and teal? See the teal in the designer paper? That's right, it was tough but I made it!!!

Well, the hop is still kicking! Head over to Anessa! I can't wait to see what she has in store for you!

Embarking on a new journey

Friday was my last day of work. My department was a victim of the Wells Fargo merger and I've been slowly disbanding my department for the past several months and have known for a while that my last day was going to be the 14th. I think it will be a little odd to wake up on Monday and not have to go to work. Well, maybe not, since we'll be on the beach Monday. Grin...

So, enough about me, how about a little something I made for the Anniversary sketch challenges? I was only able to complete 2 but I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

I just love this sentiment, it's so perfect for a parent, teacher or that special person in your life. I jut love the autumnal colors in this designer paper and how the gray coordinates with the orange.

So, my brother is here visiting and we're heading to the beach tomorrow. In addition to that, I have some fun exciting news to share shortly and I can't wait to blab!!

Enjoy!

Wanna be Royalty?

Who doesn't? The swanky parties, tea in tiny china cups, crown jewels, GASP! Well, Ok not that kind of royalty but this one does provide the benefit of being to work with an extremely talented and creative group of ladies, free stamps and all the notoriety you can stand from being a Royal Stamping Maid! That's right, Queen Kat Designs us looking for a few more ladies to round out our royal court.

The term will run from October 1st for 6 months. For all the deets, simply head on over to the Queen's blog here. I can't wait to welcome some new people into the court! I hope to see you there!

Lara

Royal Kat Wednesday, Royal Kat Wednesday, yes it is!

Welcome to Royal Kat Wednesday! It's just a little something we do around here to help make your hump day a little more bearable! I know that I look forward to the hops to see what the design team has whipped up this week! Speaking of the hop, if you didn't come to me from Victoria's blog then you need to bop back to the beginning here.

We were given a super cool sketch to work with this week and here's my take on it.

I used the butterfly from the Friend's set and the sentiment is from Take a Journey. The really cool part is that all of the designer paper is from Queen Kat as well. This is from the Tinkering Ink Paper pack with ribbon. The set is currently on sale 35% off, which is a FABULOUS deal!

See the damask design on the top purple panel? That's the chandelier from the June bird set. I stamped it several times to create the background.

Here's a close-up of the butterfly. I stamped her on purple cardstock and shaded the swirls with some Copics. Then I added a little more glitter with a Spicia Pen.

Well, that's all for me today, shoot on over to Anessa's blog, I know she'll have something fantastic for you!

Enjoy!

That's a whole lotta ... Kitty

I couldn't resist snapping this super cute picture of Titus and Luger sitting together ever so nicely. Usually Luger is attacking Titus' tail or putting him in a head lock. Did I mention that Luger is only 5 months old? The thing I love the most about this picture is their paws next to each other. My 15 pound cat and 5 month old kitten have the same size paws. Yeesh!! He's going to be a biggum!
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Wanna Monkey around?

One of the coolest parts of working on a design team are the super cool stamps you get to play with. A while ago all of us Design Monkeys were sent some stamps by MaVinci Stamps. You have to go check them out, they have some really cool fonts and alphabets. There's a fun vintage feel to their products.

I have to admit that I struggled a little bit, The style of the stamps was out of my comfort zone, any one who knows me knows that I don't make very many (any) vintage style cards. Don't get me wrong, I love them and there are SO many people who do a fabulous job in that style, unfortunately, that isn't me. I really had to stretch outside of my zone to do justice to the awesome stamps I had been given.

I chose to incorporate a few of the stamps and alter a picture frame. This was a $1 wooden frame from Michael's. I covered it with some dp from my stash.


I really like this sentiment and I though it would be perfect for a picture frame. The key to my (he)art. So many meanings that can be derived from it but I thought it would be perfect for a picture of your sweetie or whomever inspires you. To play on the key theme I embossed 2 of the key stamps with gold powder and I even found a little key charm.

Of course you need a little card to accompany the frame. This one was super simple to whip together.

That's all for tonight, I think I'm going to make some chocolate chip cookies for Wednesday's potluck. The butter is almost room temperature. See, since most of these cookies will be eaten by other people it's OK to use butter. If the entire batch was staying with us I might use margarine, maybe not. Grin...

Enjoy!

Lara

Saturday, Saturday... woo hoo!

Happy Saturday! I have some great plans to get the house in order today. August in North Carolina means that you need to stay inside during the day. I'm not really a fan of being outside when it's 95 degrees. Instead I think we'll finally clean the spare bedroom and make it guest worthy and maybe, just maybe finish cleaning up my craft room!

Speaking of the craft room, I was in there a few days ago and made up a little something using the Mod Squad set from PTI. I think this set is adorable and I need to give it a little more love.

This one was pretty simple and I used more of the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper. The picture is a little dark as I was trying to take it in the living room against a dark couch. Perhaps I can set up a little photo studio this weekend, ehh?

Hope you enjoy your weekend too!
Lara

6 days more!

So I've been cleaning out my desk and archiving a bunch of old files. We seriously have THOUSANDS of binder clips there. I want to sell them on ebay in small quantities. Needless to say, there's been a whole lot of nothing going on.

Instead of discussing my boredom, how about discussing what I made this weekend? I was looking for the new Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper and found it on sale at Archivers (EVEN BETTER!)

Doesn't that cherry stamp from the Unity KOTM coordinate perfectly with the dp?? Then I colored the cherries with my Copics. Super cute and easy!

Enjoy!
Lara

Release day!

Welcome to Queen Kat Designs release day! I just love the first Wednesday of the month, it means that I get to show off this month's brand new stamps. I've been so anxious to show off how awesome they are and I finally have the chance!

You should have bopped over here from Victoria's blog. If not, you have to head back to the beginning and see all the treats the other design team members have created!

My sample for today is with the Fancy Swirls stamp. I absolutely love this one and couldn't stop making cards with it! I was so excited to see how many of my other QKD sets coordinated with this one.


I used the new Fancy Swirls stamp to make the "branches" and the flowers are from the Friends set. I needed a sentiment to tie it all together and this one from Seals was perfect. If you like them, head on over to the store and pick up some for your very own.

Now head on over to Anessa's blog and see what she has in store for you!

Enjoy!
Lara

8 days more

The count down has officially begun. Eight more days of work then some extended time off. I've been slowly displacing my staff a few at a time and all the rest will be gone on the 14th. I am definitely going to enjoy my time off and have plans to spend quite a bit of time in my craft room over the next few weeks.

For this card I used the new every day button bits set from PTI. One of my friends recently lost some one very close to her after a long battle with cancer. I made this card for her.

I really like this sentiment and I think it will help remind her that every day they spent together was truly a gift.

Enjoy!
Lara