Funtimes in Texas

Hello All
Before I say anything else I would like to say thanks to Always Fun Challenges for selecting my entry as one of their Top 3 Picks.  Additionally, I was a blog candy winner over at Tindaloo in Cyberspace and I can't wait to get my winnings which is one of her digi stamps.  Yeah, I am off to a good start here...hope its a winning streak for me.

Now that I've gotten my announcements out of the way let me move on. I just realized that although Thanksgiving hasn't arrived all I can think of is we have only 6.5 weeks before Christmas. I've written out my Christmas list and now all that is left is to figure out how to get it all in time for Christmas.  Perhaps I'll get lucky with Black Friday sales being just around the corner.  Why do we go through this every year, perhaps its the whole atmosphere that makes the hustle worth it?

When I'm not out shopping to complete my Christmas list I am in my craft-room making sure that I have enough cards to share with friends and family.  This part I enjoy doing and sometimes I overdo it a bit.  But its fun creating and sharing what I've created so allow me to share one of my Christmas cards.

Creating this card was quick and easy to do.  All you need is cardstock, some scrap designer paper, a greeting stamp, and the Frostyville die.  Cut the die twice, turn one upside down and adhere to your mat.  Add a strip across the middle accented with a strip of scrap designer paper and then add your greeting.  That's all there is to it.  Quick and easy...I like'em like that sometimes. This idea really did come from one the challenges I am entering and the color combo was because of another challenge although the image wasn't Christmas at all lol.

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

The Sketch File - November London Tube Sketch (12/04)
{PIN} Inspirational - #203 Inspiration Image (11/20)
Holly and Ivy Challenge - #18 Anything Christmas Goes (11/11)
Creates and Makes - #16 Anything Goes (11/26)

For this card, I used My Mind's Eye designer paper and black cardstock. I used a Fishtail Die and a Circle die along with a doily to create my layout.  Once the layout was completed I added my greeting, a poinsettia, and a few pearls as my finishing touch.  The hardest part of this card design was deciding on the paper combination.

I'd like to enter this one into the following challenges:

The Merry Christmas Challenge - #42 Anything Goes Christmas/Snow (11/13)
Inspiration Destination- #137 Anything Goes (11/14)
Creative Moments - #130 Anything Goes (11/14)
Crafty Creations - #354 Anything Goes (11/20)
Christmas at Sweet Stampin - Anything Goes Christmas (12/08)

Well now its back to the drawing table because I have a lot more cards to do.  This is when challenges come in handy because you can get ideas from what others do.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia

Signs of Autumn

Finally, I am back in my craft room celebrating the signs of fall; cooler weather and fall colors. Autumn has always been my favorite of the seasons even with my allergies. I like the crispness of cooler temperatures and the fabulous changing of the color of the leaves. 

It is this time of year when inspiration can be found all around. All one has to do is look at the trees, explore your local craft store decorations and of course the little ones asking when they can go and get their costumes.  

With Halloween upon us there was no question that one of my cards would be a Halloween card and with the trees lining the highways with a multi-color treeline, I had to create a card that would not only represent Thanksgiving but would represent the colors of Autumn.

So without any more unnecessary chit-chat here are my cards for this post. 

My first card didn't take very long to make and used items from my stash.  I created my background using Oxide inks and masked out a moon.  Both the witch and the tree are die-cuts and the "Get Spooked" greeting is actually a sticker that I added to a piece of chipboard and then added a bit of foam to add dimension.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Artistic Inspiration - #189 Anything Goes "Spook it Up" (11/10)
Always Fun Challenge - #30 Halloween (11/04)
Shopping Our Stash - Halloween (11/06)
Digi Choosday - #44 Anything Goes (11/14)

I used an image from Poppy Power titled "Harvest" and colored it using my favorite Copic markers. You may notice that I flipped the image before I printed it so that the handles wouldn't be hidden by my flowers.  I used papers from My Minds Eye (MME), flowers are Recollection and Prima, and the greeting is from a collection by Fiskars. I used my favorite fall colors, orange, green, brown, yellow and red.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Pin Inspiration Challenge - #202 Photo Inspiration (11/06)
Crafting From The Heart - #181 Anything Goes (11/04)
Die Cuttin Divas - #341 Pumpkins (11/05)
Creates and Makes - #16 Anything Goes (11/25)
A Snowflake Promise - #45 Anything Goes (11/10)

The trick-or-treaters are here so that's all for now.  So guys don't get spooked (for those that participate in Halloween) and I'll see you next time.

Thanks for stopping by

Sending hugs from Texas

~Lesia

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~