Let the Holidays Began

Hello everyone.  Do you find it amazing that when you go to any craft store today you will see both Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all being displayed?  I mean Halloween hasn't arrived and yet I see Christmas trees and lights all over the place.  I just smile and think of how soon city streets and family homes will be lit with bright lights.  Yep, its the time of year when the air will become crisp and cool and there will be lots of music and festivities. 

Before I continue further I have to announce that my Christmas card entry over at Creative Fingers was chosen to be one of their Top 3 Design Team Favorite.  Yeah! to me for the honor of being selected.  Much hugs and thanks to the team.

Now back to my post. What better way to start the holidays than to create a card for each holiday.  For this post, I am sharing a Halloween card and a Christmas card.  I hope you will like them both.  I am still working on an Autumn or Thanksgiving card to share later.

I started by masking out a moon and then inking the entire card with Distress Inks.  Once the inking was completed I removed the mask and then used a die to cut out my spooky house.  I used pieces of paper to place behind the windows. Using a Stampscapes stamp I added a few weeds in the front of the house. The greeting and the bat are dimensional stickers by Dollhouse.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges - #194 Halloween (10/17)

Inspiration Destination - #135 Anything Goes (10/17)

Double D Challenges - Fright Night (10/15)

Crafty Gals - #144 Make it Spooktacular (10/16)

For this card, I embossed a sheet of white Bazzil and then cut it in 2 sizes.  I also embossed the card base.  The designer paper is from My Minds Eye (MME).  To create both the centerpiece and the greeting, I cut out the holly and the bells from the designer paper and adhered to pieces of chipboard which I cut out to fit the shape.  Then I glued the pieces together and added some foam adhesive to the back.  The greeting was also cut and added to chipboard before adhering to the card.  Each square was layered to create a diamond with a bit of dimension. 

I hope to enter the following challenges:

The Merry Christmas Challenge - #38 Anything Goes Christmas (10/17)

Creative Moments - #128 Anything Goes/Smile (10/16)

Sweet Stampin Christmas - Anything Christmas Goes (10/30)

Addicted to Stamps & More - #263 Holiday (10/16)

As always thanks for stopping by 

and come again soon.

Sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia~

Back to Basics

Hello fellow crafters.  I have been absent from posting mainly because I've been working on a mini album which I seldom do and when I start one it takes me literally days/weeks to complete.  All the coordinating and planning each page is just time-consuming, especially when you have 38 pages to design!  I finally took a break so I could go back to basics, meaning back to making cards.

My vision for the card I am sharing was to keep it relatively simple, elegant, and soft...hopefully I succeeded in doing this.  Here is my card as well as a side view of the card so you can get a sneak preview of the inside.

To create this card I used 80# Bazzill cardstock and 110# cardstock for the base that I picked up at Michaels during their sale.  I used a Memory Box Diamond Background die to cut both the foam backing as well as the top diamond frame.  

My image is from Power Poppy stamps and I colored it with Copic markers. The pearls were painted pink and here is a tip, if you're going to paint your pearls do that before you apply them to your project (learned my lesson). Lastly, I added a Recollections flower and used pieces from the diamond cutout on the inside to tie it back to the front of the card.

Copics Used on this Project:
Petals; RV10, RV11, Y23
Branches and Leaves; E31, G40, G43 and B0000 for shading.

I would like to enter the following challenges:
Inspiration Destination - #134 Anything Goes (10/03)
Crafty Creations - #350 Anything Goes (9/25)
Simply Papercraft - #50 Anything Goes (9/27)
Creative Fingers - #137 Anything Goes (10/07)
Crafting With Friends - #51 Anything Goes (10/07)
Colour Crazy Craft - #38 Anything Goes (10/07)

As always I thank you for stopping by and hope you will stop by often.  Also, remember that your comments are appreciated and welcomed.

Sending Hugs from Texas

~Lesia~

Snowfall Scenes

Let me start off by saying that I pray for hope, courage, and faith for everyone impacted by Harvey, and I pray for strength, wisdom, and faith for those preparing to face Irma or the aftermath of Irma. I can only imagine the fear and devastation that they are facing and I truly feel the sadness in my heart.

I decided to think of something that would represent faith and that is the holiday season where we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus.  For me the celebration comes alive with the first snowfall, therefore, I created cards with snowy backgrounds. I hope you like them and perhaps they will remind you that Christmas is less than 120 days away.

On both cards, I used distress inks, a mask and a bit of frisket to create the snowy background.  Once I did that all that was left to do was to add my greeting and my image.  The first image is from the "Lovely as a Tree" collection from Stampin Up and the second image "Vintage Pine Tree" is from Stampabilities. Although it's not shown I did add the greeting "Silent Night" on the second card at the bottom left.

I fell in love with the technique for creating a snowy background and have a few more cards that I need to finish up and get posted but until then be safe where-ever you are and happy crafting.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Crafting With Attitude - #31 Anything Goes (9/24)

Aud Sentiments - #188 Anything Goes + Sentiment (9/17)

Simply Papercraft - #50 Anything Goes (9/27)

Creative Fingers - #136 Anything Goes

Paper Creators Crafts - #61 Simply Christmas (9/29)

Love to Craft - #14 Anything Goes (9/28)

Crafty Girls Creations- #39 Anything Goes

Crafts Galore - Anything Goes (9/29)

A Bit More Time to Craft - #51 Anything Goes

Stinkin' Inkers - Color Wheel (9/28)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will visit often.  

Sending tons of hugs from Texas

~Lesia~

First Bestie Image Card

Hello, everyone.  Today has been one of those days, you know the one where you simply don't want to do anything, go anywhere and you're not quite sure why you feel so blah.  You're not sick and you didn't have a bad day the day before and no one has done or said anything to upset you and yet you seem to have a "leave me alone" attitude.  That has been me for most of the day.

Perhaps it was the whole eclipse thing, that has somehow affected my inner spirit.  It was kind of neat although we only got a partial here in Texas.  I was able to capture it using the old cereal box viewer we learned in elementary school.

Okay back to my gloom and doom day.  After eating a bag of Ruffles and my last ice cream cup (talk about emotional eating) I made my way to my craft room. It took a few minutes but after fluttering around a bit I did finally (3 hrs later) sit myself down and created my first "Bestie Girl" card. I don't have very many of these images but the ones I do have are really cute and a bit detailed, so coloring up this one did take complete focus.  I hope you like my little Bestie.

"Fishing" Bestie is the name of this image (I think) and you can find the clear stamp on Etsy. She was colored with Copic markers and I apologize for not writing down the markers I used but you can tell they all came from the Reds, Blues, Browns, Greys and a few from the Yellow family. I thought to add a touch of golden yellow to her red and blue outfit made it not look too patriotic since that is not what I was shooting for.  After I heat embossed the greeting "Way to Go!" I added some Wink of Stella for a soft shimmer.  

Other products I used include Authentique designer paper collection "Lovely" that had papers with dots and stripes. The flowers are from Recollections and the gemstones were part of a Bo Bunny kit I had and didn't use until now.  I followed through to the inside using paper from the same collection.  Considering how my day started I have to admit that I am pleased with this little card that measures 5.5 x 4.5 and I even managed to create a complimentary envelope to go along with it.  

I plan to enter this little card in the following challenges: 

Catch the Bug - Bingo Challenge (embossing, dots, and stripes, 3 layers) (8/25)

Just Us Girls - #407 Color Week (red, blue, yellow) (8/23)

Crafty Friends - #64 Anything Goes (8/24)

Stamping Sensations - August Anything Goes (8/29)

Little Patch of Crafty Friends - #64 Anything Goes (8/31)

That's all for now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sending Hugs from Texas

~Lesia~

Inspired Card

It is always great when you can find the inspiration you seek somewhere on the internet or YouTube.  There is such an array of diverse and talented crafters that regardless of what it is I wish to try, I can always find someone that has a style that appeals to me.  Yesterday, I wanted to do a quick card but not one that would be called CAS.  It had to be one I could complete in an hour or less but still have a certain charm and I found it in a card created by MaryJ.  Thanks, MaryJ, and to the rest of you here is my card.

The image I used is from Stampingbella and is part of the Uptown Girls collection.  This particular image is "Audrey Loves Makeup".  After coloring her with my copics I cut her out using my Brother Scan N Cut (does a fabulous job) and popped her up on my card.

I used the "Hello" die for my greeting and added the word beautiful from a Tim Holtz sticker sheet. Next, I used the "grated effect" die from Spellbinders and cut it in half to use on the front and inside of the card.

Lastly, I adhered all my panels to a gray card base completing this card in less than an hour.

The Copic markers I used: E27, E25, E11, E00, C1, C3, C5, B24, B23, B21 and R37

Thanks again to MaryJ, and now I would like to enter the following  "ATG Challenges":

Morgan's Art World - #16 Anything Goes

Making Memories Crafting - #8 Anything Goes One for Ladies

Creative Fingers - #135 Anything Goes

Colour Crazy - Anything Goes 

Scrapper's Delight - Anything Goes

Crafty Friends - #64 Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations - August Anything Goes (must use stamped image)

Little Patch of Crafty Friends - #63 Anything Goes

Fashionable Stamping - #126 Use Your Inks (must use stamped image)

Shabby Chic or Vintage

Back again with a couple of cards to share with everyone and I really don't know if they would be considered Shabby, Vintage or Chic, but you can call them whatever fits your style.  With the grandkids back with their parents I am finding that I have lots of time to try new things so I decided to venture outside my comfort zone a bit.

I've been dabbling with watercolor and mixed media and believe me I have messed up quite a bit, but isn't that expected when we craft or go about learning. Anyway despite the mistakes I did manage to salvage a couple of cards (out of about 5) that I am okay with sharing so here we go.

My first card reflects my attempt with mixed media.  I used a slew of products such as gesso, texture paste, lace, chipboard, die cuts, stencils and my newest powders from Finnibar.  The designer paper is from Prima "Royal Menagerie" and the florals are all from my Wild Orchids stash.  

I also did a bit of stitching and added touches of acrylic paint and stickles. Lastly I created a matching envelope and finished the inside to match the theme outside.

I'd like to enter this card in a few challenges:

Simply Papercraft - #49 Anything Goes (8/24)

Morgan's Artworld - #15 Anything Goes (8/10)

Daring Cardmakers - August Elemental Inspiration (8/10)

Creative Artiste - #29 Anything Mixed Media

My second card was inspired by one I saw on pinterest although I didn't take it as far as the one I saw.  I didn't add very much since the paper was gorgeous with its own flowers.  Again my designer papers are by Prima, although this collection is "Tales of You & Me."

I did a bit of distressing around the edges and added a few butterflies and lace to add a bit of interest.  It didn't take very long to create this card so I thought to create a matching envelope with the leftover pieces.

I'd like to enter the following challenges.

Making Memories - #8 Anything Goes/One for the Ladies

Emerald City - #2 Anything Goes (8/23)

Creative Fingers - #135 Anything Goes

Colour Crazy - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and 

I hope to see you again real soon.  

Sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia~