Shoebox Swap: October 2010

Girls just wanna have fun....
We had 13 of us over at the house today for our 2010 Christmas Shoebox. It was a very fun afternoon!



Here are some of the creations these very talented women came up with!

Jo Ann's Card

Michelle B's Card

Ann's Card

Virginia's

Jensen's Card

Eleanor's Card

Karen's Card

Kathy B.'s Card

Michelle S's Card

Kathy W's Card

Annette's Card

Lyn's Card

Some of the food --Yum!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Lisa

Summer Shoebox #2

Here are some more of our shoebox cards -- I apologize if I have the wrong designer listed for some of these cards.  When I downloaded the cards from my camera, they came in in a different order (and I deleted the pics from my camera before I realized the change in the order).

Cynthia's card...

This is Michelle's card...















Here is Ann's card....

Here is Bobbi's card...

Here is Annette's card ....

Here is Lyn's card...
 















Here is Pamuela's card....

Here is Liz's card ...

We had such a great afternoon!!!!  (Don't forget to see the July 27th post to see the first three cards I posted.)  After we made our 10 cards, we had a happy hour, complete with wine and cosmopolitans! Yum!!! It was a great way to end a great day!  You will have to join us next time. And there WILL be a next time.  Watch for our "Christmas Shoebox" event that we are planning to have in September!!

Thanks for stopping by today...
~Lisa

Puppy Love

One of the reasons that I haven't been able to keep up with my postings: 

Let me introduce you to my new distraction, Riley

 Little Riley is a Maltese/Papilian mix. He is about 8 weeks old. My son has wanted a puppy for a very long time, and we finally were able to find one that we were willing to take home. He is in the middle of "potty-training" but other than the typical mishaps, Riley is a very good puppy. He only barks when he is playing. He sleeps while we are gone. He sleeps through the night. And he loves to cuttle when we are home. He is sooo cute.

And Psycho Kitty and Ol'Man Kitty are sticking around the house more, claiming their "territory" but being very very patient. No problems so far!!

Gotta run... looks like he is about to miss the piddle-pad (again)....

~Lisa

Summer Shoebox

Sorry for my delay in posting these pictures ladies! For some reason summertime has been slipping through my fingers, and I am NOT getting done everything that I want to get done. I just need more time to play!!! I think I am sleeping too much .... I need to learn how to get by on 2 hours sleep! :-)

So here are a few of the cards we made (I will post more in the next day or so).

Karen's card included some "smooch" but I don't think it shows well here (the card was gorgeous in person):

Kathy B.'s card was simply elegant:

Virginia's card was so much fun:

I will post more photos once I find my list of who designed which card (I set it down someplace in my work room during our day....)

So for those of you who missed it, please watch for our SEPTEMBER Shoebox date -- we have decided to make it a Christmas/Holiday Card Shoebox Swap!  We would love to have you join us!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Stamping
~Lisa

Sneak Peek: CSL Challenge

Each month my stamping upline (the Crazy Stamping Ladies -- CSLs for short) are given a card challenge to bring to our meeting. This is a sneak-peak of a part of my card that I am going to submit. This paper is the wedding paper ("Bride") in the 2009-2010 Stampin' Up Catalog (and similar paper can be ordered through our Summer Mini) -- it allows you to sponge or brayer on whichever color ink that you want to use, and the beautiful details pop through. I love it!


I will post the final card after the CSL meeting -- maybe I will win this month! :-)

Thanks for stopping in today! Have a beautiful day!
~Lisa

Tall Drink of Lemonade!

Another fun creation from Annette...

This was our second card that we made at our monthly stamp club. Again -- too cute! I've already given this one to a dear friend to wish her a happy birthday! She LOVED it. She kept looking at the details trying to figure out how we made this!

The glass of lemonade is made with Vellum Cardstock (not paper).
We sponged the inside in yellow, and added Dazzling Diamonds to the top using a strip of red-sticky-strip tape!
Once it was colored and glittered we adhered it to a piece of Whisper White,
making sure we curved the paper to mimic the shape of a glass.
(The vertical sides were folded over enough to give us a
"lip" to adhere to the Whisper White Cardstock)

And don't you just love the little umbrella she found? It is attached to a bend-y straw!

Doesn't it just "scream" summer???
(Are we going to even have a summer this year??
We had rain again this week! Amazing weather!)

Once again ... this card was just too cute to not share!
But I have photos so I can create another copy!

Have a beautiful day everyone!
~Lisa

You Rock!

Like many stampers, I have difficulties creating masculine cards. I just love the glitter, the ribbons, the pizazz! However, I just love the "Extreme..." stamp sets from Stampin' Up. This is the Extreme Guitar... I like how it turned out. Of course I had to still use a bit of ribbon!

Thanks for stopping in today!
~Lisa

Chalk Festival

Marissa had a great day today -- she was selected to participate in the Chalk Festival.
She has quite an artistic side to her! Take a look at what she did....

Here is her dragon (I can't wait to have this framed!)



Here she is with her proud daddy!


And here is her sidewalk creation that she worked on all day today! This is quite a treat -- she was able to not go to class and work on her art all day at school. And she did such a lovely job!



Being the proud momma that I am, I made her pose -- even though there were lots of people around (including her friends and probably some cute boys), she humored me and let me take her picture!


I love to craft, but I sure cannot draw like she can!
I am so glad that she enjoys her art!

Thanks for stopping in today!

Celebrate: Coconut Drinks!

How much fun is this? This lovely card was designed by my friend Annette. We all had a chance to make the card at our monthly stamp club. We seem to have a "happy hour" theme going, actually. It is a lot of fun! And I really enjoy the colors in this card! Hope you enjoy it as well!
(Thanks Annette for such a fun card, and such a good time last Saturday!) ~Lisa

Summer Mini Catalog

I love it! I love it! I love it! Just when I think I couldn't possibly need any more stamps, Stampin' Up comes up with a new mini! Not only are there wonderful stamps sets, there are even MORE WONDERFUL accessories! I placed my order today and I can't wait to start showing you my creations. My favorite, favorite, favorite tool that is on its way has to be the new "cogs" punch!

Click on the catalog image to begin searching for your favorites! And when you find something, you can order HERE

Sunshine Award

I received this great Sunshine Award from TWO fellow Crazy Stamping Ladies - Julie and Maureen. These ladies are just two of many creative Crazy Stamping Ladies! Maureen is our upline, and she takes such good care of us. We meet monthly and share ideas and business information with one another. A few of my sister-stampers have blogs of their own, please take a look at their creativity (and please tell them that Lisa sent you!).

Heidi@www.stampinking.blogspot.com
Maria@www.stampinista.blogspot.com
Jeri@www.cyriousstampers.blogspot.com
Maureen @www.crazystampinglady.blogspot.com

Have a great time poking around their blogs!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Stamping!
~Lisa

Messages for Mom

Mother's Day is on its way!!!

My mom lives just outside of Salt Lake City, and I am lucky to see her once a year. She and my dad both work full time and then lovingly care for my grandparents on the weekends. They both keep very busy.

As a mom myself, I am becoming very aware of the energy it takes to raise children -- especially in the teen years. Amazing how much we begin to truly appreciate our parents more and more as we endure the difficulties of raising teens?

I can't even begin to say thank you enough to my parents!
But for a start... I'm sending this card to my mom. I hope that she likes it

The card recipe:

Messages for Mom and Well Scripted Stamp Sets
Black card base (hard to see it in this photo)
Melon Mambo and Whisper White card stock
Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
Frost White Shimmer Paint (for all embossed images)
Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon
Scallop Trim Border (see inside of card below)
Black and Pretty in Pink Ink

I hope you all like it! And I really hope my Mom likes it! (She will; she always likes whatever I make -- even it I make something absolutely awful. She is kind that way!)

Happy Stamping Everyone!
~Lisa

Abundant Hope: Easter Blessings

Easter is such a beautiful time of year! We have so much to be thankful for!

This year I opted to send out Easter cards -- I had totally missed sending Christmas cards due to the craziness of December this past year.

The card recipe includes:

• Abundant Hope Stamp Set
• Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Whisper White card stocks
• Polka Dot embossing folder
• Scallop Trim Border
• Basic Brown Ink (image) and Almost Amethyst Ink (for sentiment)
  
• Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery markers
• Whisper White Organza Ribbon
• Dimensionals
  

Happy Stamping!
~Lisa

Tiny Tags & Hodgepodge Bookmarkers

I am a member of a Stamp Club in Moorpark, CA. We meet every 6 weeks and have a swap challenge due each session. The challenge is to create something using the product that was purchased at the previous session -- this is a great way to be sure we are using the products that we actually purchase (I have a bad habit of collecting stamps and supplies -- gotta have, gotta have, but I don't always open and use!! LOL!!!)

As I was looking at all the wonderful ideas from Stampin' Up demonstrators in our Stamping Connections gallery (you too could be looking at this gallery if you would like to sign on as a Stampin' Up demonstrator -- simply visit my Stampin' Up website and drop me a note!), I found these beautiful bookmarks made with the stamp set Tiny Tags (which I just purchased), Vanilla Hodgepodge (which I have had in my possession for over a year) and the wonderful polka dot ribbon in our In-Colors! I hope you like them as much as I do. The demonstrator that inspired me to make these bookmarkers is Amy Storrie from Texas. (Thanks Amy!)

Three bookmarks: Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry Ribbons;



Rhinestone Brads: Fire Squares




Stamp Set: Tiny Tags
w/ Vanilla Hodgepodge

Aren't these lovely little bookmarks? I can't wait to share with my stamping friends this weekend.

Happy Stamping Everyone!
~Lisa

Welcome Spring!

Oh the weather is gorgeous here in Sunny Southern California! We had wind earlier in the week (and we are expecting more rain this weekend) but today is simply gorgeous! Psycho kitty is sunbathing near the window, my daughter is in school, my son is being lazy, and I have decided I need to post something here! It seems that I blink and three months go by!
Stamping Time!
A few weeks ago we had a wonderful time stamping, making cards to send to our soldiers overseas. It is so important to remember all the young men and women who are stationed overseas. These soldiers desire to wish their family and friends "happy birthday", "happy anniversary" or even just to say "hello" and they have little to no access to greeting cards, let alone home-made greeting cards! So we got together to make them some cards that they can then send back home. It was such a good time, and such a good cause! Here are some photos from that day:

We had a great time!
Happy Stamping!
~Lisa