HE'S HERE!!!!!

I'm very proud to announce the birth of my grandson, Caleb David Burgess!  He was born tonight and weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces.  Momma and baby are doing fine after a c-section delivery.

Many thanks to everyone for all of your prayers during this complicated pregnancy!  You have made it so much easier to endure all of the problems that Chelsey incurred during her pregnancy.  She and David also send their thanks!  I'll have pics up tomorrow!

~~~Lee~~~

MPS "Holiday Magic" Blog Hop

Welcome to my portion of the Michelle Perkett Studio Holiday Magic Blog Hop.

If you arrived here from Jan's blog, She's Gone Stamping, you're in the right place.  If not, start at the beginning at the Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge blog. 

This year, our family is blessed with some very special holiday magic.  My youngest daughter, Chelsey, has been trying to get pregnant for over 5 years.  Finally, this year her prayers were answered, and she is due to deliver at anytime.  Unfortunately, she had to be hospitalized at 19 weeks into her pregnancy due to an incompetent cervix.  The doctors did surgery to stitch her cervix closed, and she remained in the hospital on bedrest for over a month where she found out that she also has gestational diabetes.  She has continued to be on bedrest, which has ended up costing her their main source of income.  Even losing her job and the bedrest hasn't dampened her spirits, even though she's used to working as an animal welfare officer, a MP in the CO Army National Guard and co-owning a dog training/boarding business with her hubby.  Last week, the doctor took the stitch out and told her to prepare for deliver within the next 48 hours.  That was a week and a half ago.  It seems that little Caleb likes it so much inside of his mommy that he decided to stay a bit longer!  Whenever he comes, he will always be one very special little boy!

Needless to say, this image by Michelle Perkett says it all!  I colored the image with colored pencils and added some bling with Stickles.  On the border of the image, I punched the snowflakes out with a Martha Stewart edge punch.  Some ink was pounced onto the edges of the the image and the Target $1 Shop design paper.  Next I added some irridescent trim to the design paper, and then finished it off with some May Arts ribbon.

The next stop on the hop is the very talented Pauline's blog HERE.  Remember, there are prizes to be won, so you won't want to miss a single stop on the hop!  Don't forget to stop over at Michelle's Etsy shop to see all of the fabulous images she has available for you there.  We also love to mingle with lots of people that love Michelle's images over at her Crafter's Digital Art Center and Paper Craft Planet groups. 

Here's "hopping" that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~~~~Lee~~~~

Challenges:

Pattie's Creations - #9 Punch or Punches

Stamping With the Dragon - #16 Make it Sparkle
Sweet Stamping - Celebrations
Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge - Christmas - I WON!!!!
2 Sisters Challenge - Christmas

Mega Thanks for Mega Box of Blog Candy!

Operation Write Home had a fabulous Be My Valentine Bloghop last weekend, and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners of some fabulous blog candy from this hop.  This particular win was from Jan Hunnicut at Jan's she's gone stampin blog.  I was expecting some cardstock, stickers and stamps, but I wasn't prepared for all of the goodies packed inside of this USPS Priority Flat Rate box!  There were sets of stamps from Stampin' Up!, Penny Black & In Style Stamps, a very gracious handful of cardstock, stickers, chipboard tags, chipboard letters, metal tags, Button-Ups, Fresh Cuts, Glitter, badge stickers, vellum phrases, cards & envelopes, clear overlays, woven words and more!  Talk about some awesome candy!!!!  I can't thank Jan enough for offering this awesome candy in support of Operation Write Home!

I know I've asked you all before, but it's so important to vote everyday for Operation Write Home at Joann's Craft for a Cause.  I vote every morning at 9:00, so I can get the maximum number of votes for this awesome organization.  Operation Write Home always needs your support of your hand-made cards for our soldiers, so why not send them some today?  Even if you can't fill up a USPS Priority Flate Rate Box full, maybe you can fill up a USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelope.   We're still working on Valentine's cards until the 10th of January, but if you can get them in by December 1st, Archway will be adding up to 4,000 of their tasty confections to go with these Valentines!  Please, remember not to use glitter on these or any other cards that you make for our troops.  Again, thanks for supporting our troops!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

OWH Bloghop Blog Candy Winner!

So, I hope that all of you have had a chance to make it through the Operation Write Home Be My Valentine Bloghop by now.  Wasn't it amazing?  If you haven't been already, and you want to start at the beginning of the hop, just go to the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.  I just love all of the eye candy and tutorials and of course the blog candy!  I guess that's why you stopped today, so maybe I should get to who won my blog candy.

I keep saying I'm going to use the Random Generator for my blog candies, but I forgot to look into it again!  I'm not sure if the Random Generator can check it against who is a follower or not, so if any of you know the answer would you please let me know?  If I still have to check all of the commenters against the followers, it defeats the purpose of using it.

Before I announce the winner ;o), I want to remind everyone to vote everyday for OWH at Joann's Craft for a Cause!  Can you imagine how many boxes of cards we could send to the troops with the $50,000 prize????  Wouldn't it be nice to give Sandy and the others a break from constantly looking for contributions?  Make sure you let all of your family and friends know that we need their votes, too!  Post the link for Joann's Craft for a Cause on your facebook page, tweet about it on twitter, or even use the old-fashioned word-of-mouth!

Well, I guess I made you wait long enough to find out who won the blog candy, so the winner is:

Beth from

Beth Horn's Stamp Pad 

Congrats to Beth on winning this bundle of goodies!  I'm on my way to email Beth about her win as well as list it on OWH.  If I don't get a response with an address of where to send these papercrafting goodies by Sat., November 20th, I'll draw another winner.

Thanks to all who commented, hopped and especially the bloggers who made this hop another success for OWH!  Most of all, I want to thank all of you who make cards for our soldiers!  You may not get a personal thank you, but I can tell you that it meant a world of good for my daughter and her unit while she was stationed in Iraq!  You're the greatest!!!!



~~~  Lee  ~~~



Horse Stamp Mystery SOLVED!

Many thanks to Robyn on Paper Craft Planet who found the manufacturer of the Patriotic Horse that I used on my OWH Be My Valentine Bloghop card.  It can be found at I LOVE RUBBER STAMPS.  If you go there, be forewarned!  Linda Schmidt has some super awesome stamps!!!!!  Tell her Operation Write Home sent you.  Maybe she will sponsor us on some challenges or future bloghops! 

~~~  Lee  ~~~

OWH Be My Valentine Bloghop

Welcome to my portion of the Operation Write Home Be My Valentine Bloghop!  I'm very honored to participate in another OWH bloghop.  My very first bloghop was with OWH a year ago for Veteran's Day.  I was afraid that I would do something wrong and upset people.  Instead, I've become friends with a very supportive and helpful group of people who will bend over backwards to help others, especially our soldiers serving overseas!  I started making cards for the soldiers while my daughter was stationed in Iraq with the Colorado Army National Guard 220th MP unit.  I know first-hand how important all of these special cards mean to our soldiers. 

If you came here from Jessica's blog, Certainly Stamping, you're at the right place! Isn't it fabulous that she is donating her commissions until Dec. 31st to OWH! Send a super THANKS to this fabulous women for being so gracious to our soldiers! We also need to send a special thanks to her hubby who is a sailor, and her soldier brother! That's a lot to be thankful for!!!!  If you get lost on the hop or a link isn't working, you can always go back to the OWH Stars and Stamps blog to get you in the right place. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

You may know the history behind Veteran's Day, but do you know that there is an organization that makes it possible for us to find out personal information about wars from World War I to the present from the veterans and those involved in the war effort from correspondence, pictures and other types of media?  The Veteran's History Project was created in 2000 by the U.S. Congress with the following mission:
"The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war."

Are you a veteran or do you know someone who served and would like to contribute to this project?  Maybe you would like to know more about where a family member served or what types of obstacles they had to overcome because of the war.  Then you will want to check out this organization to see what is available, or maybe you can contribute to preserving this portion of history for others.  Take some time to check them out for yourself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***SUCCESS! Robyn on Paper Craft Planet found the manufacturer of the stamp.  It can be found at I LOVE RUBBER STAMPS.

My Valentine's card uses this fabulous horse stamp that I bought on ebay.  I would love to know who made it, so if you know the manufacturer please let me know.  I stamped and then heat embossed it with Stampendous embossing powder.  The star paper is a specialty paper from Hobby Lobby, and the textured silver paper is from a DCWV matstack.  The gorgeous ribbon is another ebay purchase.  To finish off the front, I matted this metal heart from All My Memories.

Here's the inside of the card that I stamped with this old PSX sentiment, and then heat embossed it with fine silver embossing powder.  There's plenty of room left for the soldier to write a personal note inside.

The Valentine's card deadline is January 7th.  Sorry if you wanted to send them Christmas cards, but that deadline has already passed.  Don't worry, you can tuck them away for now and send them to your OWH shipper next year. 

We need your vote today and everyday until December 4th at Joann's Craft for a Cause.  Just imagine how many boxes of cards could be shipped to our soldiers if OWH won the grand prize of $50,000???  Remember to vote everyday, so make sure to add this URL to your favorites.  Vote the same time everyday, so we can get the maximum number of votes allowed.  They only allow one vote per household per day, so make sure you tell your blogger, facebook, twitter and other friends to vote for OWH, too! 

What's a blog hop without BLOG CANDY????  I'll draw for this blog candy on Wednesday, November 17th!  It includes the Wedding Stamp set from the Rusty Pickle, a clear stamp set called Mix & Match Labels from Hampton Arts, an assortment of ribbons that's not all pictured here, some brights 5" x 7" papers from Making Memories, app. 50 sheets of 6" x 6" papers from Paper Symphony and some other assorted surprises!  Sorry, but the blog candy is only available for US shipping.  All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower if you aren't already one.  WooHoo!!!!  Since I hit over 100 followers,  I'm adding in some more goodies!!!!
2. Leave a comment below, so I know you want to win this blog candy.
3. Go to the Joann's Craft for a Cause link today and everyday and vote for Operation Write Home
4. Leave your email in the comment section if you don't have a blog. 

Your next stop on the hop is to Doris's blog, Mom's Been Scrappin.  Not only does she make some fabulous cards for our heroes, but her family is really into helping our soldiers.  One of her daughter's even participated in the Tough Mudder event that raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project! 

****SPECIAL MISSION****

From now until Dec. 1st, you can make Valentines and send them to one of our shippers to be involved in an awesome partnership with Archway.  Gosh, OWH really love to keep our heroes happy, don't they?  Please help whenever you can, so our soldiers know how much we care about them and their families!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

I Got the Attitude! Blog Award

I was awarded the I Got Attitude! Blog Award blog award from Ileanna, one of my ultra-talented blogging friends from Spain.  Ileanna has always been an inspiration to me ever since I met her through the Michelle Perkett Studio group on Paper Craft Planet, but she's the one that gave me an award.  Take some time to check out her blog; All Things that Make Me Happy. 

In order to qualify for the $5.00 Digi’s With Attitude! Gift Certificate you must state 3 things that makes you different from everyone else and you must nominate 5 blogs. Lastly, you must display the Blog Award Badge (above) in your sidebar and link it back to the Digi’s With Attitude! Challenge Blog.

The three things that make me different from everyone else are:
1.  I have been living with Crohn's Disease for over two decades.
2.  I could stay by myself for weeks at a time creating cards.
3.  I was a graphic artist for numerous sign companies before I became disabled.

Now, the hard part!  Since I can only nominate five blogs for this award, it was harder to decide who not to nominate!  The ones I finally chose in no particular order are:
1.  Heather at Heather's Coffee Break
2.  Lelia at Green Goddess Creations 
3.  Sandy at It's a Colorful World
4.  Kim at Living in Paradise
5.  Tami at Team Gingerbread

~~~  Lee  ~~~

I'm Going to the Dogs for Christmas!

I know that many of you hate to be reminded, but Christmas is right around the corner.  How many of you have started your Christmas cards yet? I like to make some throughout the year, so I'm not overwhelmed at Christmas (please don't hate me for this!).  Here's a few that I thought I'd share that will probably end up going to my daughter for her dog training/boarding business.

I love this adorable dog image by Stamp Happen.  He was stamped and heat embossed with Ranger detail embossing powder.  I used a red marker to color the hat and parts of the candy cane, and then used some glitter to simulate snow.  The design paper is an oldie from Hot Off the Press that I cut to look like hills.  The snowflake is from my stash.

I have a ton of holiday stickers in my stash, and this sticker fit great with the card.  I added another sticker to bring a pop of red to the inside.

Since I was going through my stickers, I found these adorable dogs that I had got at the Current outlet store.  Even though they weren't a Christmas theme, who says you can't make them so with some clever additions?  The holly wreath sticker was also in my stash.  To tie it all together, I added a piece of this adorable bone snowflake DP by Daisy Hill and added a border with a Zig Milenium pen as well as added a bit of Distress ink around the edges.  The saying was another stash sticker.  Even though I don't usually make cards with just stickers, I think this one turned out pretty cute!

This last card was another quickie to make.  This doberman image is by the Stamp Gallery, and was stamped and heat embossed with Ranger detail embossing powder.  The corners of the cardstock and matting were rounded with a corner punch and placed on top of this The Paper Studio DP.  To dress things up a bit, a bling collar was added, and then I thought a rhinestone leash would be nice to go with the collar.  I added a few sprigs of sticker greenery from my stash and it was finished.

There you have it.  Three quick and easy cards that will be sure to please some of the people on your list.  Start trying not to overdo things this Christmas by simplifying things where ever you can.  A few stickers here and there, a little bling and some fun stamps come together to help make things easier for you.  Don't drive yourself nuts trying to make everything over the top...relax and have fun.  Isn't that the reason that we got into stamping anyway?

Don't forget to stop back here next weekend for the annual Veteran's Day blog hop for Operation Write Home.  Since this was the very first blog hop I participated in one year ago, I decided that I needed to celebrate this event with some blog candy!  I'll have the picture on my posting that day, so you'll want to come by to check it out as well as the tons of fabulous bloggers that always make this hop so much fun!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Fresh Brewed Designs DT Call

Heather Dennis from Fresh Brewed Designs asked me to help get the word out about her design team call.  The full text of the call is listed below:

Fresh Brewed Designs is having a FULL DT CALL. I am looking for people who love to create and are excited to be a part of getting a new business on it's feet and walk around out there. I a looking for someone who wants to meet new people and fellowship Fresh Brewed Designs style!

If you are interested, here is how you can apply for the team and what we require:

Fresh Brewed Designs is having a DT call starting today, October 27th and running through Wednesday, November 10th at 9:00pm EST. Details are listed below.

• DT terms will be for 6 months starting November 17, 2010 and running through April 13, 2011.  The 10+ new DT spots will be announced on the Freshly Brewed Challenges blog on November  13th. You can reapply again after your 6 month term is over if you are interested in staying.would love for you to use a Fresh Brewed Designs image on one of your cards, however it is not required for your application.please let me know in your application. required to have a blog to apply.Wednesday challenges.for that week when you can. This is not a requirement.and a 40% discount to the shop on all digi images. news in one place. Emails will be sent as well, but I know they tend to get lost, so this will be a  place for us to stay organized.
• Please email two cards to me ( freshbreweddesigns AT yahoo DOT com ) with your application. I 
• If you are interested in being a DT coordinator to help with blog hops and challenge posts, 
• Please send a list of all design teams you are currently on and a link to your blog. You will be 
• As a Fresh Brewed Design Team member You will be responsible for participating in our weekly 
• You will be asked to participate in the challenges of blogs Fresh Brewed Designs is sponsoring 
• You are required to be a part of all monthly blog hops and new images releases.
• You will be given 5 images of your choice to start on the team, 2 images from every new release 
• You will be required to join the Fresh Brewed Crew blog for challenge updates and all the FBD 

**when emailing me please include FBD DT Call and your name in the subject line**  

Fresh Brewed Designs is in the process of creating a

• new website
• new groups
• a facebook page
• lots more fun! 

Thank you for taking the time to read the post. I can not wait to see your applications.
Heather 
 
I hope you will take some time to check out Fresh Brewed Designs Etsy store here.  Can you tell that Heather loves coffee? :-)
 

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Vellum Butterfly Sympathy Card

One of the cards I don't make a lot of is sympathy cards.  It's one of those things that I usually have to make specifically for that person.  I decided to step out of my comfort zone and make this card for the batch I made for my DGS's youth football fundraiser.

I thought this DP would look nice with the butterfly stamp that I stamped and heat embossed on vellum.  Color was added to the back of the vellum with highlighters to soften the colors.  In Deepest Sorrow by Hambo Stamps was stamped on ivory cardstock, and then the edges were punched/embossed with a Fiskars corner punch.  Since I finally bought a REAL distressing tool, I decided to use it on the edges of the DP.  The distressed edges and the edges of the sentiment were then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The ribbon is from my stash, and the butterfly was attached with foam adhesive. 

The inside uses the same DP and techniques as the front.  This sentiment was stamped on ivory cardstock and handcut.   All of these edges were then inked with the Distress Ink to match the front.  I loved that I was able to use some more of the gorgeous cards from The Paper Cut Venus card kit to make this.  The color is a deep eggplant if your monitor doesn't do a good job with colors.  I bought a bunch of clear acrylic stamps online, and none of them was marked with the manufacturer.  If anyone knows who makes the stamp on the inside, please let me know so I can give them proper credit.

  ~~~  Lee  ~~~

Winter Snowflake Medallion

Did I ever say that I loved medallion stamps?  Probably only about a hundred times!  This snowflake medallion is made by my favorite medallion company, Holly Berry House.  If you've never been to her website, you need to check it out!  I stamped the medallion and heat embossed it on four different colors of cardstock, and then I cut it out as close as possible to the embossing.  The base of the medallion is usually cut about 1/4" from the embossing to help ground it to the background.  Next was the fun part.  I went inside the embossed lines with a Zig fine point glue pen, and then sprinkled it generously with several different colors of Magic Scraps glitter.  Then, I added the medallion to this card from The Paper Cut with Scotch Quick Grab Adhesive because I didn't know what type of coating was on the card.  To finish off the front, I added some rub-ons from Heidi Swapp.

The inside of this card includes the text insert from the card kit.  I stamped this sentiment by Comotion with Top Boss embossing ink, and then heat embossed it with purple embossing powder.  I ran the snowflake through my Xyron, so I didn't have to worry about glue creeping out from the sides.

Here's a close-up of the front of the card to show some of the dimension that's achieved by using foam adhesive between each layer.  Since I use thin foam adhesives to glue the medallion together, it usually isn't affected by the machines at the post office. 

I like to send winter cards to my Jewish and others who don't celebrate Christmas, and this type of card does the trick.  Since this is one of the few times that people communicate every year, why exclude these people?  I personally don't need an excuse to send a card, but we all know people who only send cards once a year. :o)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm sure you may have noticed the Operation Write Home blog hop announcement at the top of my sidebar.  If you would like to be a blogger for the hop, sign-up at Operation Write Home .  This will be the first anniversary of my first blog hop that I ever participated in (& it was with OWH), so I guess that's as good a reason as any to offer some BLOG CANDY for the hop!  Even though this card has glitter on it, please don't make cards for the troops with loose glitter on them.  We don't want to compromise the safety of our troops by having a few flakes fall off on their uniforms.  THANKS!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

MPS Full Moon Fever Blog Hop

Welcome to another stop on the Michelle Perkett Studio Full Moon Blog Hop!  If you arrived here from Lynne's Doodlebug Designs blog, you're in the right place.  If not, you will want to go back to the start at Michelle's Enchanted Inspirations blog, so you don't miss anything along the way.   They'll be prizes for some hoppers, so don't forget to say Trick or Treat or you may be left in the dark!

This weekend boasts a full moon, and fans of Michelle Perkett Studio wanted to celebrate it by showing off our Halloween goodies.  Since not all of the stops on the hop are in the U.S., we decided to open up the hop to showcase other traditions that are shared by other countries at this time of year.  Fall is such a beautiful time of year, and the creations along the way will surely impress you.  But don't daddle or stray, or you may come across some witches or other creatures that go bump in the night!

The card I made for the hop features three of Michelle's images.  You may think that freebies aren't good enough for blog hops or challenges, but you'd be wrong!  All of Michelle's images are great, and you may want to check out the freebies at her group on Paper Craft Planet.  If you want to see more of Michelle's images, just hop on over to her Etsy shop to see all of her fabulous creations!  You won't be disappointed!

The boy image on my card is called Thomas, and he is the brother of Mary Margaret who is in the witch costume.  Mary Margaret got all dressed up for the costume party, but Thomas thought it was too childish to dress up.  At least Mary Margaret's best friend is dressed as Goldilocks for the party.

All of the images were colored with colored pencils.  The orange DP is by The Paper Studio and the other is by Cloud 9 Design.  The ribbon is another one of my finds at the Target $1 Spot, and the rhinestones are all from my stash.  The cat is from the $1 bin at Michael's and the tombstone is another free image by Angie Whalley.  Don't you just love Mary Margaret's witch hat that was another freebie from Dustin Pike at Doodle Dragon Studio, and her pumpkin is a sticker from my stash.

Your next stop on the hop is at the super talented Marilyn's Cards and More blog.  If you get lost along the way, just go to the Michelle Perkett Studio challenge blog for a full list of participants.  Have a fangtastic full moon fever blog hop! 

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Challenges:

Michelle Perkett Studio - Witches Brew mixed with Halloween

Stamp Something - Use a Digi

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C60 - Halloween

Digis With Attitude - Bling it On!

Paper Cutz #64 - Halloween project with stars, circles, diamonds or crescents

Raise the Bar #41 - Orange, Black and Purple

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge 73 - Spooky  ***WOO HOO! - I won!!!!
Dutch Dare - Halloween or Color Challenge
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Things that go bump in the night
The Creative Cottage - Halloween (10/27)
Creative Craft Challenges - Trick or Treat
2 Sisters - Anything Goes
The Crazy Challenge - Halloween
Stamping Vacation - Sticky Situation; Pumpkin Sticker

Thanksgiving Cross

I originally thought I would make this card front into an Easter card, but realized it would also fit as a Thanksgiving card.  This DP in the background is from The Paper Studio, and the cross is from a mat stack by DCWV called Once Upon A Time.  After I hand cut the cross and matted it on brown cardstock, I decided to soften it by adding the edges of a doily around the edges.  The Give Thanks sentiment is by VAP Scrap, and was heat embossed with Hampton Arts brown embossing powder.  Since I don't have any of the die cutting machines, I ocassionally use my Martha Stewart scoring board for some added interest.  On this card, all I did was flipped the card over and scored it 1/8" from all of the edges.  The scoring was also done on the cross to match the background paper.

The inside included one of my favorite Thanksgiving images made by Stampabilities.  It was also heat embossed with Hampton Art's brown embossing powder that I got at Joann's.  I usually use this image on the front of the card, so it was nice to know it works as well on the inside of a card.  Since so much work is usually put on the front of the card, I like to keep the inside simple even though this image is more ornate. 

Although the deadline for Thanksgiving cards has already passed for Operation Write Home, it's not to late to mail in your Christmas cards.  You have until October 30th, and don't forget to add some Any Hero cards that are also requested at this time.  Instead of making cards specific to Christmas, I also like to make winter cards that  the troops can send for longer periods of time.  Birthday, Love, Thinking of You, Anniversary and other such cards are always needed and appreciated at Operation Write Home.  Don't forget to stop by the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog to see the latest challenge, tutorials and more!  THANKS!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Challenges:

Stamping Vacation - No! No! Challenge; nothing that starts with S

Owl Always Love You

In my last posting, I told you about the cards I had made for a fundraiser for my DGS's youth football league.  Well, here's another card that I included in the box.  Even though it was real easy to make, it gets right to the point (just like most men).  The cardstock is a green metallic that I got in an ebay deal.  The Owl always Love You sentiment and flower were from a clear set of Studio G stamps by Hampton Arts.  The heart was included in a mini flip Studio G package that I got for $1.00 at Big Lots.  Gotta love those bargains! 

I stamped and heat embossed the images with my favorite Pearlized Carnelian embossing powder from Stampendous.  This adorable owl paper is by The Paper Studio.  The inside was stamped with the same embossing powder.  The owl is from the Owl always Love You clear set, and the sentiment is by PSX.  The embossing powder color on the inside is closer to what it really looks like in real life.  I'm still having problems getting all of the colors right on my new camera. 

Like I said, easy peasy, but it does the trick!  It may be early for Valentines cards, but you could always change the inside to fit the holiday (or maybe just because). 

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Butterfly Thank You Card

I recently made a bunch of cards for a fund raiser for my DGS's junior football league.  They have an annual dinner with a guest speaker, and afterwards they have a silent auction with tons of terrific donations.  I was honored to be asked to donate to this worthy cause.  

 

I've been buying some supplies on eBay, and this fabulous card base is one of my best buys!  It's made by The Paper Cut, and this stunning kit includes the cards, envelopes, layering swatches and matching text inserts.  This kit is called Venus, and it's one of their layering card kits.  Even though I didn't use the front layering paper, I did cut around the butterfly images, so the inside paper is visible from the front.  The butterflies are made by Inkadinkado.  Unfortunately, I don't know who made the other set of clear stamps since they weren't in their original packages when I bought them.

All of the images were stamped with Top Boss embossing ink, and then heat embossed with Joann's Gold Essential embossing powder.  The scalloped circular image with all of the thank you's was stamped on the layering swatch, and then hand-cut with scissors.  It was attached with Scotch's Quick Dry Adhesive since I wasn't sure how the glue runners would hold up with this coated cardstock base.  The gorgeous ribbon from my stash was all that I needed to finish off the front of the card.

The inside used the text insert piece that I stamped and embossed with butterflies and the Thanks Very Much text. Again, I attached the paper with the Scotch Quick Dry adhesive. Although this was one of my easier cards to make, it definitely is more elegant looking than most of my creations. See how easy it is to create something fabulous when you have quality products to work with?

I'm off to spend the weekend with Chelsey while her hubby is hunting.  It will be fun to finally help her do some of the things that she wants to do to the room for the baby.  Since the pregnancy has been so troublesome, she didn't want to do too much for the baby until things were more stable.  I finally get to do some real grandma things there!

~~~  Lee  ~~~

MPS Meadow Fairy Card

Sorry - I'm having some issues with Blogger right now.  Blogger decided I must have played around enough with this posting and published it anyway.  Don't you just love technology?  I'll try again later.

~~~  Lee ~~~

Some Fall Inspiration

I love making medallions, so this Autumn Leaf medallion stamp from Holly Berry House really inspired me.  I love all of the beautiful colors of fall. Ever since I moved to Colorado from Ohio over 20 years ago, I still haven't seen anything that compares to the colors of the leaves in the fall there.  We have the beautiful golden colors of the aspens on the mountains, but the maples, oaks, hickorys, elms and other trees that are so prevelant out east are hard to beat in the fall.

I used Top Boss embossing ink with some brass embossing powder from Joann's, and then I heat set the image on four different colored pieces of cardstock.  The bottom layer of the medallion is usually cut out about 1/4" from the embossing.  The other layers are cut as close as possible to the image.  If you get too close, this will usually make that section of embossing pop off.  I found this beautiful gold doily at a garage sale, and it fit perfectly under this image for even more glitz!  Before I added the foam adhesives for dimension, I glued matching Magic Scraps ultra-fine glitter on the leaves with a Zig 2 way fine tip glue pen Squeeze & roll).  Don't you wish that glitter showed up better in pictures?  The luscious gold paper from Denami and this deep purple mulberry paper were a perfect fit along with this textured brass paper from a metallic stack from DCWV.  The green with gold dots paper from my stash.  To finish it off, I added some Precious Metal Coppered Out Swirls rub-ons from We R Memory Keepers, and then ran a Pilot gold marker along the edges of the papers.  I can't wait to show you some of the other medallion creations I've made.

Isn't this Inkadinkado turkey just too cute?  I got him several years ago, and have used him every year since.  Instead of really coloring him up like I usually do, I decided to just chalk in some light color and highlight him with a white Ranger Inkessentials gel pen after I stamped and heat embossed him.  This design papers are some that I hoarded from Hobby Lobby last year.  The daisy paper was from an ebay seller, but I wish I knew who made it so I could get more.  I don't have any of the die cut machines, so the oval was cut with a Fiskars Oval cutter and the decorative corners by a Emagination punch.

The Target $1 Spot is the first place I look when I go to Target.  They have some great finds there like this adorable enamel brads, and the leaves were from yet another shopping trip there.  The K & Co. paper ribbon was a perfect finish to this adorable turkey.  To make it look just a bit more rustic, I added just a bit of Walnut ink Distress Ink dabbed around the corners of the matting and background.

The final card here is also a bookmark.  I love this Pearlized Carnelian embossing powder color from Stampendous, and it was a perfect color for this great looking scarecrow from Stamp Affair.  Since the embossing powder was pearlized, I decided to get out the Twinkling H20s to paint the image with a water brush.  The background was stamped with some Memories dye ink with several different leaf stamps from Stampin' Up!  This ink was then dabbed around the sides of the card and bookmark.  The rub-ons from my stash were added at the top for some more visual interest.

It's hard to believe that the inside of the card here is the same color as the card above.  I took at least five different pictures, and this was the best one out of the group.  There was some more of the background paper left, so I glued it to the inside with Ad Tech glue runner, and added this heat embossed sentiment from Stampin' Up! on some matching cardstock from my stash.  I just realized that I didn't ink the edges on the inside.  Maybe that's why I couldn't get a decent picture of the inside! lol
 

I hope some of these give you some inspiration to get your fall cards finished now since Christmas will be here before you know it!  <]:o)

~~~  Lee  ~~~



Challenges:

No Time to Stamp - Hard Rock Cafe'
Delightful Challenges - Metal Mania
Pals Paper Arts - Inspiration
Inktegrity Design Team Challenges - Fall or Halloween
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Show Us Your Bling
GingerLoft Digi Stamps - All That Glitters or Blings
Pear Tree Designs - Autumn
My Partner in Craffting Blog - Shine on You Crazy Diamond
Craftalicious Challenges #10 - Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes - A Change of Season
Let's Ink it Up - Halloween Colours

Spooky $1 Inkadinkado Halloween Images

I love all the thrills and chills of Halloween, so these fabulous Inkadinkado images that I found at Michael's for only $1 a pack were perfect for me!  The price made them even more of a thrill!  I teamed these images up with some Scenic Route paper, stickers and brads that I found at Tuesday Morning, and then I found this wonderful sparkly bat border in the Target $1 Spot.  I had to add this cool spider web sticker to the tree from my stash.  To top it off, the sparkly fibers were from a hair tie that I took apart to use on cards.   

The images were stamped on white cardstock with Memento Black Tuxedo ink.  Next, I sponged on some Walnut Stain Distress ink all over the paper to make it match the design papers better (The colors do really match in real life!).  The deckle scissors added more of an eerie feeling to all of the edges on the design paper and cardstock.  This card went together real easy after I stamped the images.  They were from three different Inkadinkado sets.  No cutting, popping up or other special effects were used to make these images pop.  They could even stand alone for an even easier card.

The inside uses another Inkadinkado image.  Doesn't this just scream Halloween to you?  I also used the Distress ink on the paper and hand cut and matted it on the black cardstock.  The border and word stickers were from the kit that I got at Tuesday Morning (that I now see needs to be reinforced with some Scotch quick grab glue).  My daughter tells me that I'm strange in sending Halloween cards to people (especially my grandkids).  How about you?  Do you make and send any Halloween cards?

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Challenges:

Aly's Sunday Challenge #27 - Halloween

By The Cute and Girly - Spooky

The Creative Cottage Challenge #25 - Halloween

Double Dutch - Halloween Creation

Elephantastic Cards & Crafts Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenges - Halloween 

Glitterbabe's Challenge #16 - Halloween

My Grafico Challenge #70 - Anything Goes

I Did It Creations Challenge Blog - Spooky 

Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle Saturdays - Halloween or Fall

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenges - Multiple Images & Make it Spooktacular

Stamping Vacation - Animal Applause (11/14)

Stamping Vacation - Halloween (10/23)

GingerLoft Hug Your Dog Card

Well, I'm still alive and without a computer.  They were able to fix the computer and save all of my pictures and digis, but the cost wasn't in my very tight budget so I need to make payments before I get it back.  I'm still using a loaner computer for now, and was actually able to download some pictures of the cards I've been making lately. 

I love this image called Playground by GingerLoft.  Since my daughter is a dog trainer and an Animal Welfare Officer (and a MP in the Colorado Army National Guard) when she's not on total bed rest during her pregnancy, I figured this image would be a perfect one to use to help cheer her up.  Well, it worked!  She loved the card, and she even took pics of it to send to her friends from work.

This was the first image I purchased from GingerLoft, and I know there will be tons more that I can't live without!  I printed this digi image onto Georgia Pacific cardstock and immediately heat embossed it with clear detail embossing powder.  Next came my trusty Prang colored pencils and baby oil as a blender.  This is the first time I just ran a shadow of blue around the image.  It definately saves time on the background, and it also seems to make it pop off the page without having to cut the figure out.  The paper is some more scrap paper that I've been trying to use up that probably came from Hobby Lobby.  The adorable felt ribbon is from K & Company, and the pearls are from Michael's.  There is also some Magic Mesh on the top section for a bit of extra zing.

What would a dog be without his bones?  These adorable embossed stickers are made by American Traditionals Designs that I found at Big Lots.  The corners were all rounded with a corner punch, and the front of the card is finished off with a paw print punched out of the design paper.  The inside mimics the front with the same design papers and paw print punch.  I can't remember who this saying is from, but I'll post it here when I get my computer back.  The tennis balls and bones are all from the American Traditionals Designs pack of stickers, and the I Ruff You sticker is from a Bubble-A-Bilities package from the Paper Studio.  The closeup below really shows the detail on this adorable bulldog.  If you like this stamp, you'll really love Tami's other stuff!  I can't wait to use the Winter Tree, Christmas Door, Cowboy, Nature's Song Collage and other digis I bought from her during some of her great sales! 

If you were wondering how my daughter, Chelsey, is doing, so far, so good.  She's now out of the hospital, but she's still on total bed rest.  The baby weighs just over 3 pounds now, and is doing well (except keeping mom up with his kicking!).  The 800 mg of Ibuprofen she has to take 3 times a day is really messing with her stomach, so hopefully the spasms in her cervix will stop soon.  She is almost 28 weeks along now, so we are very blessed to have him cooperate with the doctors and not want to pop out too early!  Thanks again for all of your prayers and words of encouragement!

I've actually finished a ton of cards for a craft show and a for a benefit for the youth football league, so now all I need to do is write up all of the details.  Now, I just need to remember what I used to make them! :o) 

~~~  Lee  ~~~

Challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters -  All things Bling
GingerLoft Challenge Blog - All that glitters or blings
The Crafty Pad - Make Something for a Friend
Cowgirl's Sunday Stamp'en Challenge - Girly Girl
Stamping Vacation - To Who - Someone That Needs a Hug