Festive Colors

It's true, Autumn is actually upon us and you can tell by the changing of the air and the changing of the trees.  My fall flowers have started to produce buds and I can see the color peeking through.  

And of course our local stores reminds us with all the decorations being shown throughout the aisles. Can you believe they have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations out at the same time. 

Although it seems to be a bit much I have to admit that I do love the deep earth colors so I created the perfect card to showcase some of our Fall colors.  

This is my first official Fall card!  I purchased the stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  Its absolutely beautiful and its label is  Fall Bouquet in Pumpkin (item numberP10090). 

I used cardstock as my base and designer paper from My Minds Eyes as a mat for my image.  The ribbon and lace peeking from behind the image was purchased at my local craft store, and finally I used my copic markers to color it and a prismacolor pencil to assist in shading my shadows.

I'm not sure that the stickles I added to the flowers can be seen in this photo but under the light in my hand it has a lovely sparkle and shimmer that adds just the right amount of pizazz. The finished card size is 5.5 x 5.5.  

This was a fun image to color and I am pleased with how it turned out. I will most likely grab a few more stamps from this company before the year ends. Use the link above to go check out what they have to offer and no I am not being paid to say this...I just think their stamps are beautiful.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

(unless noted all challenges are Anything Goes)

Scrappers Delight - Challenge #59

Ellibelle's Creations - Lets Color Linky Party#12

Digi Designs - Autumn

The Corrosive Challenge Blog  - Challenge #9

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Challenge #41

Great Impressions - September Challenge (ATG)

Fashionable Stamping - #115 Use Autumn Colors

Lacy Sunshine - September Challenge (ATG)

613 Avenue Create - ATG w/twist "Colors of Fall"

Until next time, sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia

Make time to Make Stuff

Crazy Birds

Hello everyone, its me again! Can you believe I am back before the month ends? I think it was the extra time we got from celebrating Labor Day.  

So now to share my latest endeavors.  I just found the joy of creating with "Crazy Birds" from Tim Holtz.  I think this is going to be fun and I am hoping we will see these little creations as mini birds in the near future.  How about it Tim, can we look for it in the near future. I'm not sure how long I will be in awe of these things but that is where I am at the moment.

I have additionally as a direct result of these birds been introduced to shrink plastic.  If you haven't used shrink plastic, you have got to try it.  It is amazing watching something shrink without losing its definition.  Once I perfect the technique of using it then I will try creating with it.  But until then I will continue to make cards as I always have. 

This card actually measures 6.25 x 4.25 and is a tent-fold style card.  The image was made using "Crazy Birds" along with "Crazy Things".  I colored my image with Copic markers and used foam tape to pop everything up.  My greeting (which is actually a sentiment) is by Stampendous. 

My inspiration for this card came from K. Werner Designs, a fabulous designer for Tim Holtz and Ranger.  I think I will be creating with these birds for the next week or so and I'll be sure to share with everyone.

I want to enter the following challenges:
(unless otherwise noted these challenges are Anything Goes)

Lost Coast Portal - Challenge #28
House of Cards - Sep Challenge: Add A Bird or Colors
Craft Your Passion - Challenge #328
Crafting From the Heart - Challenge #326
Unicorn Challenge #13 - Happy Birthday
Sunny Day Crafting - Challenge #13 
Lemon Shortbread - Challenge #23
Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
Just Keep On Creating - September Link Up

I can't wait to start my next Crazy Bird card! This is as addictive as my scenic stamps. It feels great to have options and time to play in my craftroom.  I'm finally feeling the joy and freedom of retirement.

Until next time, be creative and don't forget to leave a comment and let me know you visited.

Hugs from Texas
~Lesia
"Make time to make Stuff"

Mini Blueprint Set

Time has finally allowed me a chance to get back to the important business of blogging, so here I am again.

First of all is sad news.  We didn't get enough of entries to award anyone with the gift certificate from Stampscapes, but never fear it will float back around eventually.

My next tidbit of news is rather pleasing.  My card was selected as one of the top 3 favorites over at Crafty Friends...how delightful.

So on with my newest mini blueprint set from Tim Holtz.  I started with just 4 little cards but I like them so much that I think I will increase the set to at least 6, but I have to wait for an order to arrive to finish this set.

The cards are 3 x 3 with envelopes and a box to store them in.  I created two different box styles just to see how many would fit in each. I colored them with Copics and on the inside I simply stamped a hand-print on the left and a foot-print on the right.

These were really fun to make and the Tim Holtz mini blueprint series are perfect for making thank you cards, notecards and any cards where you want to make a themed set.  He has several although I don't have but a few of them. 

The box with lid is down so you can see the sides and the trim

I stood the box with lid up for a better view of the top of the lid

The box with lid will hold around 10 little cards while the flip-top style will only hold about 6 of them.  I like both boxes but will most likely use the flip-top for this set and keep the other one for the next set I make. Lastly I used a few stickers to decorate the boxes and designer paper from an old Websters collection.

I would like to enter these cards in the following

 "Anything Goes" challenges.

Digital Delights - Challenge #13

Southern Girls - Challenge #142

Crafting With Attitude - Challenge #19

Simply Papercraft - Challenge #35

Creative Fingers - Challenge #115

Colour Crazy - Challenge Week 21

Art By Miran - Challenge #66

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment.  I love hearing from you.

Hugs 'N' Kisses From Texas

~Lesia

Make Time to Make Stuff

Stuck on Stampscapes

Hey Everyone, I'm back again.  Yea I know its about time but life just keeps interfering with my plans.  As I mentioned I was trying to get two boxes together for a blog giveaway, well I met a newbie to the crafting world who didn't have very much to craft with so I felt compelled to share with her, meaning I no longer have anything to host a blog giveaway with...but I can give a gift certificate to some lucky follower.

So that is what I have decided to do...give a Stampscapes gift certificate to someone so they can get one of these wonderful stamps to play with.  Speaking of Stampscapes, I am truly stuck on them at the moment.  Creating scenes and photo painting is such fun and there's no fear of bleeding or smudging.  I have a couple more of my scenic cards to share with everyone.

I hope you enjoy them.  Be sure to leave a comment and add your name using Mr Linky below for a chance to win a gift certificate to Stampscapes Stamps.

Now on to the cards:

The first card uses the image "Bayou Shack" from Stampscapes.  I stamped on glossy cardstock and colored the image with Memento, Stampin Up and Distress inks using the colorbox stylus. The greeting is from Fiskars (I think).

This card was created with the "WaterMill" stamp from Stampscapes and again I used Memento and Distress inks to color it.  I also used "Flock of Ducks" and "water lily" stamps from Stampscapes.

I'd like to enter the following "Anything Goes" challenges:

Polkadoodles Crafting - #week 32 Anything Goes (8/26)

Creative Fingers - #114 Anything Goes (9/2)

Craft Colouring Challenge - #week 20 Anything Goes

Art By Miran - #65 Anything Goes (8/31)

Crafty Friends Challenge - #38 Anything Goes (8/26)

That's all I've got for you today. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell a friend. If we get 20 entries then I'll give someone a gift certificate to Stampscapes Stamps. 

Sending Hugs From Texas

~Lesia~

Remember:  Make time to make stuff

More Scenes

Can you believe it!  I am actually posting in only a week!  Should I say yahoo or wait and see if this is just a fluke?  I think I'll wait and see if I can continue this and make it a habit.

I've been taking time to purge and seems like I am still at it.  I recently had a yard sale and got rid of a lot of stuff and was really pleased with my earnings (my prices were extremely reasonable).  Anyway as I clean out closets I am finding more things that I could live without or I already have (meaning I bought two of the same thing in error).

Because of my error I am getting together a small giveaway for the near future.  The prize box will include Prima Dolls, Spellbinder dies and 6x6 paper pads.  I think I have enough for two prize boxes but we shall see how it all pans out.

In the meantime I would like to share another scenic card with you.  I tried to stop but so far its not working...seems I just keep buying stamps to play with.  Its okay though..I'm having fun with it.  Here is a card I made using one of my newest stamps.

The image I used for this card is titled "Covered Bridge (sm)" and yep its another one from Stampscapes.  I used Hewlett Packard Glossy Paper instead of Glossy Cardstock (I ran out of the glossy cardstock) and there was some minor differences but for the most part the result is much the same.

The tools I used to color this scene included "Le Plume" markers by Marvy Chida,  an array of Memento inks and Colorbox Stylus with oval tips. Papers used include Stampin Up card-stock and designer paper from Bo Bunny.  The approximate size of the card is 5 x 5.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Get Creative Challenge - #44 Lots of Blue (08/07)
Craft Your Passion - #322 Anything Goes (08/06)
Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge - Sketch #170
Digi Choosday - Anything Goes (08/09)
The Crafty Addict - #20 Anything Goes
Kraftin Kimmie - Anything Goes

Well I'm off to my craft room to see what kind of mojo shows up.  

So until next time

Sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia~

Make time to make stuff

Stamp Composition

Well it seems like I will never reach the point where I can confidently state that I will blog at least once a week.  I keep telling myself that I will create a post weekly but it never happens so I have reluctantly given up that hope and decided to accept the fact that I will most likely post when I have something to say or share, and that will most likely not occur every week.  But this week I do have something to share with my crafting family.

If you recall I recently started creating sceneries using stamps from Stampscapes and I have been having fun with these fabulous stamps.  Most of the scenes I have created so far have been nighttime scenes that uses a lot of shades of blue but I am hoping to change this as I slowly build up my collection of inks.  At the moment my choices of ink seem to be mostly blue and green.

Anyway, here are a few more scenes I wish to share with everyone. Hopefully you will find them tasteful and inspirational...I do smile each time I create one without having to repeat the process twice just to get one right (smile). 

  My first card represents our soon to arrive Fall Season when the trees change into a rainbow of greens, reds, yellows and browns. I used three Stampscapes stamps (Pine Row, Sedge Filler, and Migrating Birds) to create this scene. I then painted the scene using Memento inks and a Colorbox Stylus.

With this particular card I tried my hand at creating a monochrome card using my new found technique for coloring. My color palette consist of  Flannel Grey, London Fog and Silvery Gray.  The stamp of course is one from Stampscapes.  This is one stamp (Meadow) that was broken into several sections and randomly stamped to create a scene of openness.

I call this scene Stormy Night.  My grand-daughter wanted these particular colors and said it represented the different moods that her brain goes through in one day.  I'm not sure what that means just yet but at her age anything is possible.  The colors used on this stamp all fall within the range of blue and green.

I framed it using a Fiskars Border Corner Punch and then adhered it to my card base.  I used four stamps to create this scene.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Creative Moments - #98 Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Creations - #23 Just For Fun
Crafting With Attitude - #17 Anything Goes
Cardz 4 Galz - #27 No Patterned Paper
Aud Sentiment Challenge - #160 Anything Goes w/Sentiment

That's all for now

Sending Hugs From Texas

Lesia

Make Time to Make Stuff