Valentine's Dragon

Gack! Is it REALLY February?? Wasn't it just Christmas? Days kinda run together when you aren't working just like they do when you are. The only difference is that Kev expects me to cook and clean more often. Huh... Waiting to here about a second interview so hopefully the recruiter isn't buried in a snow pile and can call me this week. I do need another interview shirt though... maybe the crazies will have gone to work and aren't out on the roads. It's still supposed to he hella slippery out there today.

So, did you hop through the QKD blog hop today? If not just go on over and check out the new releases! Today I played along with the Pink Elephant challenge and made a Valentine's card using the Cute Dragonette stamp. Isn't she adorable??! The task was to use pink! Super easy for me since I recently got some new paper from MME and knew it would be perfect with the dragon. I colored her with my Copics to coordinate with the paper and added a sentiment from the paper pack.

I really like how this one turned out. Really, really...
Alrighty, off for more creating and waiting for the phone to ring! Wish me luck!
Enjoy!

QKD Samples

Happy Sunday! Today is day 2 of our being snowed in. Friday evening it snowed then turned to sleet in the early morning on Saturday. Add those 2 things together and it equals a beautiful, hard packed, slick as ice surface, EVERYWHERE. You know, the kind where you step on it and your feet don't sink, you just kinda walk on top of it...

Are we REALLY snowed in, no. But people down here are crazy and don't have any idea how to drive in the snow. Friday there were 700 reported accidents in the triangle and 600 today. Yes, really... I learned how to drive on the backwoods mountains of WV in the snow, ice and rain. This is nothing, but I'm keeping the Jetta safe and dent free in the driveway! To compensate for being trapped indoors I cleaned my craft room and got to work while Kev played a LOT of Internet poker.

Then I realized that I hadn't yet posted my creations using the stamps from QKD's January release. Oops. So without further adieu, here's Sophia the Seamstress.

I used some fun papers from Cosmo Cricket and colored her with Copics. I just love this color combo!

For the second one I pulled out some paper from MME. Again with the Copics and I was pretty amused with my bow. Ooo, love the bling as well!

Don't forget to stop by the QKD blog hop on Monday. Start at the QKD blog and see what the ladies have in store for you! I haven't received my Feb assignment yet so I won't be joining but I'll still have something pretty to show!

Enjoy!

Lara

QKD Challenge #2

Happy Friday! I am gearing up for a rather uneventful day. Well, I do need to do some job stuff and I think I'll go to Barnes and Noble and take up space in their cafe. I get too distracted at home between Kev and the kitties..

Anywho, here is day 2 of the QKD challenges. We were to take a non-holiday stamp and make it into a holiday card. I chose Dotty Bird for this one.

I stamped her with Old Olive ink and added some bling. I cut out the birdie and mounted her on a cute piece of card stock from Cosmo Cricket. A few buttons and voila! a cute Christmas card!!

The cool thing about Dotty is that she's on SALE! If you purchase 2 stamp sets you get a separates stamp FREE! Dotty is a separates stamp and she can be all yours!! The sale ends on the 7th, so head on over there while you still can!

Enjoy!
Lara

QKD Challenge

Is it still Thursday?? Phew! Ms Queen Kat issued a few challenges to the Royal Stamping Maids for the weekend. One of them was to create a project using inchies or twinchies or pinchies, or whatever they are. Grin... I have NEVER played with inchies before so this was like venturing into the great unknown...

I kinda altered the inchie into an inch-and-a-quarterie. The only square punch I have is 1 1/4. Grin... I was looking through my QKD stamps and I thought that the tops of these palm trees looked like the flowers on my designer paper. (Do you see it?) Work with me folks... I colored the trees to match the paper. I really love is color combo of taupe, chocolate brown, gray and cream.

So, I originally had 3 trees but decided to remove the center one and add these sentiments from the Seals set. I think it adds a nice touch with the bling.

Well, that's all for tonight, be sure to stop back tomorrow and see if I pull out another challenge!
Enjoy!
Lara

Royal Kat Wednesday!

Welcome to Royal Kat Wednesday!! This is a very special Wednesday... why? It's release day!! Yeah! We have some fantastic stamps being released today and yes, this might be my Favorite release to date! (OK, i say that every time but it's true!!!)

K, back to the fun! Hopefully you arrived here via Andrea's blog. If not. and you stopped in t get your daily dose of me, head on back to the beginning and check out all the fantablous creations!

For my treat today, I got to play with Bunny Chan which is another amazing stamp by Che Gilison. Love her, loved coloring her!!

I went with a fall-ish color palette for this card and used dark yellow, grey and cream. I just love this color combo!! I colored her with my Copics and matched her with some cute paper from SEI. I also got really excited when I found these flowers with little skulls in my stash. Cute!!

Not only do we have a new release, there is a fantastic sale going on right now! When you purchase 2 stamp sets, you get 1 separates stamp free! OR purchase 3 separates and get 1 FREE! (up to a $3.99 value)

If that isn't enough, put November 19th on your calendar right now! We are having a blog hop to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Queen Kat Designs AND to welcome a new designer to the company!

Phew, is that enough for you?? Yes, OK, head on over to Anessa and see what awesome creation she has waiting for you!
Enjoy!!!

Oooo, in case you get lost, here's the hop list!
QKD blog
Shannon's blog
Jules' blog
Maria's blog
WIS blog
Bev (SG's) blog
Andrea's blog
Lara's blog
Anessa's blog
Nina's blog
Nancy's blog
Stephanie's blog
Katarina's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Special Hop to welcome a new designer!!

Hi all! Over at Quenn Kat Designs we are SO excited to be welcoming a new designer to the crew! Her name is Melia Newman and she creates the CUTEST fantasy images!! Well, Ms Queen Kat herself asked if we could perhaps do a mini blog hop to welcome Melia to the group. I fell in love with these dragons and of course had to say yes!

So hopefully you've bopped here from Helene's blog. If not, please scoot on back to the beginning and check out all of the fantastic creations!

Thanksgiving Dragons! GACK, how cute are they?? I just love this couple, especially since they are defying their parents with a forbidden love affair. Yellow Pilgrims and orange Indians?! This goes to show that nothing can stop true love. Grin...

I pulled out some SU! paper that I'd been hoarding since last year and colored my dragons to match. Sigh, fall colors make me so happy... You know what else makes me happy? A SALE, yep, the two stamps that are being released today are on sale for 30% off as well as the two alphabet stamps that Queen Kat used on the card for the QKD blog today. The best part? This sale will last through Sunday!!!

Did you also know that QKD has a yahoo group? Come over and join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qkdstampco/ This is our new group. Join up to get the latest QKD info and be alerted to new releases and upcoming sales!

Well, that's all for me today! Your next stop on the hop is the fantastic Kelly! Enjoy and make sure to check out all of the samples on today's hop!

Enjoy!
QKD blog
Helene's blog
Lara's blog - You are here!
Kelly's blog
Alex's blog
Meredith's blog
Penny's blog
Vicki's blog
Queen Kat Designs Store

Suzy Homemaker?

I just sat down and wrestled the laptop away from Kevin. As I sat down Kevin declared that today was one of my top 10 Suzy Homemaker days. Huh. It's well known around these parts that I am not a domestic goddess. I despise cleaning and really don't understand cooking. Meat baffles me and I am far better at ordering off a menu. You spend an hour or 2 cooking dinner to eat it in 20 minutes then another 30 minutes to clean up the kitchen.

Today I woke up and took some crafts to Oxford. Almost all of my Halloween cards had sold and I wanted to get some more up there as well as some Breast Cancer Support cards. So, go there, then to Party City, then a little decorating. Get home and I decided to make some low fat banana bread using a recipe from the "Hungry Girl Cookbook" (LOVE this cookbook!!!) Then I made dinner and as part of dinner I decided to see if I liked butternut squash. Again using the Hungry Girl Cookbook I peeled, sliced and grated a squash and fried them like hash browns. VERY tasty but I'm not sure if the healthy benefits outweigh what a PAIN it is to prepare... Then make and clean up dinner. Ugh, where did the day go? I think I'd rather be Suzy crafter than Suzy Homemaker. Kevin would disagree...

So, how about a Halloween tag? This is one of my QKD creations using the Batwing Lolita stamp. I colored her with my Copics and adhered her to a tag.

I love the fall vibe. It makes me SO happy (as do those bats from my MS punch!) Well, I have a little more crafting to do! Have a great evening!!

Royal Kat Wednesday!

Happy blog hop!! Hopefully you hopped over here from Victoria! If not, head on back to the beginning and check out what you've missed!!!

We had an awesome picture this week for inspiration and I decided to keep it really simple. I just love this sentiment from the Take a Journey set.

I used some pretty designer paper, ribbon and a border punch. clean, simple and a beautiful reminder to Celebrate.

I hope you enjoyed your trip here! Now scoot over to Anessa and check out what she has in store for you!

Royal Kat Wednesday!

It's Royal Kat Wednesday again!! Hopefully you got here via Victoria's blog. If not jump on back to the beginning to make sure that you don't miss any of the fabulousness! Go here I'll wait. Are you back? Great, let's get started! As you my have noticed we had a delicious sketch provided by Maria.

I used the Birds of a Feather stamp set for this one. I actually tried a new technique on this card. You see in the set, the bird is only facing one way. I wanted 2 birds to face each other. I stamped the bird twice and using some thinner card stock I held it up to the light and traced the bird on the opposite side of the paper. I then went over it with a gold Spicia pen and colored it with Copics to match the Berry Sorbet ink I used on the first birdie.

Cut them out and they face each other! I set them on top of a chip board stem and some leaves. I thought the new Eco Stack from Cosmo Cricket coordinated perfectly with this set.

Well, that's all fro me! Trek over to Anessa and see what sorts of awesomeness she has in store for you!

Enjoy!
Lara

Royal Kat Wednesday!

Well here it is, Wednesday again and that means another Royal Kat Wednesday blog hop!! You should be joining me from Victoria's blog!

This week's challenge was to make a summery box. Well, I have a confession to make... I forgot what day it was AGAIN. This morning I realized that I hadn't finished my project and I didn't have an extra day to do it! Eeekkk!!!



For my box, I didn't make one I altered a tin I had collecting dust in my stash. I covered it with SU Razzleberry Lemonade Designer paper and added some felt flowers. Since plenty of people are born in the summer, I decided to make this a happy birthday box. The stamp I used is from the Elegant Sayings set which is currently on sale 20% off in the Queen Kat store!

Alright, enough rambling, head on over to Anessa and see what sorts of awesomeness she has in store today!!!

Enjoy!
Lara

Christmas in July?

Technically I made the project in June but Christmas in July sounds a lot better. I was playing with my new Christmas stamps from Queen Kat Designs. One of the stamps is a To and From and I immediately thought that it destined to go on a tag. This is a little more countrified than my usual projects but I decided to branch out a little.

I picked up a few wooden stars from Mike's for .20 apiece. I started by decoupaging some designer Christmas paper from last year to the star.; After it dried I distressed the edges, stamped the To and From with Versamark and embossed with gold powder. It still needed a little more antiquing and I sponged some gold paint on the edges. Punch a hole at the top and thread some twine and there you go. All of the new stamps are on sale 25% off at QKD for the next few days, head on over there and pick up some for yourself!

I think it will make an adorable accent to someones gift this year.
Enjoy!

Lara

Welcome to to the QKD!!!

It's July first and that means new stamp releases from Queen Kat Designs and a blog hop!! Hopefully you came here from Anessa's blog. If not, head on back to the Queen Kat blog so you won't miss any of the awesome projects from the design team!

So, on with my projects. I got to play with the brand Spanking new Fancy Christmas set! I wanted to show just how versatile this set was. When I first received it I thought how awesome it would look embossed with silver.


I think the funky paper gives it a retro feel. It makes me think of Christmas trees from back in the day that were sprayed with white/silver flocking (like my cousin does) and covered in icicles. For those of you who didn't grow up in the northeast, icicles are awful pieces of shiny silver string that your mom puts on the tree. When you walk past the icicles are drawn to your pants with static electricity. Then you find them allover the place for the next 7 months.

I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed with silver glitter. This is my way to get some silver on the tree without having to wrestle icicles from the cats.

Now don;t think that this set can only be used for funky fresh cards, no way. I also whipped up a more traditional image. This one was stamped with Chocolate Chip ink and I added some accents with the gold glitter pen,

This one came together pretty quickly and I like how the flowers look like pointsettas. So, if you like what you see here, head over to the Queen Kat Store and pick up some of your very own! Heck, they're 25% off right now, what are you waiting for?? In the mean time head over to the next stop on the hop, the super talented Andrea. I'm sure she has something spectacular waiting for you!

Enjoy!!

Top 5 Two weeks in a row!

I am SO honored to have made the top 5 at the Pink Elephant Challenge for the second week in a row! It is such an honor to be chosen! (I have to admit that I have my eyes set on that number 1 spot. A bit competitive? Perhaps... Grin) I'll have to get to work on this week's challenge!

How about another QKD example? This is another card that I made for my design team audition. I used the June Bird set. I love the chandelier stamp I used for the back ground. I just love the colors and how it all came together.

Can I go on the record and say that I LOVE Baja Breeze? So much that I went to Home Depot and color matched some paint for my master bathroom?? Oh yes, Baja Breeze bathroom and I think we definitely need brown mats and towels. Yes....

Any who, I used that yummy SU! designer paper and a Verve sentiment with my silver embossed birdie. I love it and I love the way it all turned out.

Enjoy!

Big News!!!

OMG, OMG, I am SO excited!! I was asked to be a Royal Stamping Maid for Queen Kat Designs!! HOORAY!!! I absolutely love their images and I am SO excited to be joining the team!

They had a call at the beginning of March and I had 2 of my 3 submissions completed when we were called to NY. This month there was a super quick call and I was able to complete my cards and get them sent off! Today there was an e-mail in my in-box asking if I wanted to join the team! ABSOLUTELY!!

Well, to start off my term, I had to show you a fabo image from QKD. This is Tilly from the Whimsical Sorority line. Isn't she awesome??!!


I colored her with copics and covered her tail with Stickles. Isn't she beautiful? You can see the sparkles on her tail.

I wanted to make the swirls look like seaweed. Does it work?

I promise to have more QKD stuff in the coming days, just keep checking back! In the mean time, I have some cleaning and cooking to do. I have some ladies coming over to tomorrow from the Alumnae Association. We have to eat something!

Oooo, on another note, I got carded TWICE in the last 2 days! Yeah! Yesterday at the liquor store and tonight at Target buying my ghetto bottle of Lambrusco. 33 and I still have it!

Have a good night!

Sneeze, sneeze, cough, cough blech.

I think I have allergies. Then those allergies turned into a cold. Yick... I hadn't heard of pine pollen before we moved to NC. The first spring, we work up one morning to find everything covered with a bright yellow powder. Which lasted for 3 weeks. I sneezed a little then, and a little more when the following year rolled around and a lot more this year. Boo, we don't have that up north. Needless to say, I've spent the last 2 weeks sneezing and blowing my nose and main lining honey lemon cough drops.

I haven't been terribly creative over the last few days and I was getting ready for the big craft show at work. I was a dip making fiend. In light of all of that, I DO have a little something to show. I got some stamps from Queen Kat Designs one of them being these adorable birdies.

I colored them with Copics to match the SU! designer paper. I really like the color combo of So Saffron, Riding Hood Red and Pumpkin Pie. I especially like that I had some red stick on flowers that matched the red. I also liked that they covered up a mistake I made. Shhh.... Yeah for embellishments!

I also added a few stickles and some gold glitter pen for a little extra bling. A

Alright, off to take the beer bread out of the oven. Have a good night!!

Lara