Looking back at 2014!

What a year this has been. I went into 2014 with pneumonia, (that was no fun), said hello and goodbye to design teams and joined the addictive world of Pinterest. The absolute lowest part of this past year was the loss of my sweet beautiful boy Max. I miss my little pup so very much. Thankfully the year was finished off with a beautiful gift from God...my precious granddaughter Penelope. She's a new bright spot in my life that came just when I needed her most.

Like so many fellow cardmakers, I'm taking a little trip down memory lane with my favorite cards from the past year. I've picked one from each month...enjoy!

January

February

March

April

May

 June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I wish all of you, my sweet blogging friends and followers, a Happy New Year. Your friendship, visits, encouraging comments and emails mean the world to me. I love having you in my life and am so happy you've joined me in this blogging journey of mine. May you all be blessed in 2015 ~Lisa

cQc #269 ~ Thankful for You!

Hi there friends!! Can you believe Thanksgiving is just two days aways! I need to get busy with my dinner preparations. It will be a much smaller group for us this year. We're down to 7 from our usual 12 or 14. But I enjoy cooking this special dinner every year, all of my family's favorite traditional dishes. What a blessed day it will be to have our little Sweet P with us for her first Thanksgiving! I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon yesterday with her and her beautiful mommy ~ love love my girls!!

I'm sharing one more Thanksgiving card for the final ColourQ challenge of November. And what a darling inspiration photo Arielle found for us! The Tag You're It challenge was my inspiration this week. I'll also be linking this one up at the Catered Crop. Did you hear that Linda has decided to close the doors on her challenge? Retirement is keeping her pretty busy! 

I've let several stamps from Precious Remembrance Shop's {Fall Colors} be the stars of this card.  Orange Twine and Marshmallow Sequins (4mm & 6mm) from Pretty Pink Posh provided me with the perfect embellishments. I decided to mimic the grid pattern of my stamping with an embossing folder from DeNami Design. And that just about does it, hope you like it! 

Have a delightful day ~Lisa

PP #220 & CC ~ Thank You!

Hey there! My sweet blogging friend LeAnne is the hostess this week at The Paper Players. She's picked a vintage theme, something she does so well! I'm playing along in honor of her and will also enter this at Catered Crop where they have a gratitude/thank you theme.

*edit: Well shucks I missed the deadline for The Paper Players!!

I had several MME papers that would fit the vintage theme, but decided on this one with the ledger/floral look. I love those teeny blue flowers and the pretty butterscotchy rose! I've had this vintage lady (Raindrops on Roses) for years and thought she would look pretty alongside the flowers. Her outfit is colored to match and she's topped off with a PTI sentiment. It was a last minute decision to add some old gold rhinestones, but I'm glad I did!!

Enjoy you day ~Lisa

Guesting at the Catered Crop!

I'm honored to be guesting with the gals at the Catered Crop for their latest {Recipe Swap} ~ Seeing Red! I had so many ideas running through my head but finally decided upon apples. This is their time of year and I wanted to give them their due!!

Let me begin by saying that I have used a plethora of product on this card!! 

Here's the rundown for you...

The apple, sentiment & tag die are by Papertrey Ink, stitched circle My Favorite Things, the pretty little leafy flourish is Top Dog Dies, banner is by Reverse Confetti, hearts are Paper Sweeties and the Sparkling Clear sequins (4mm & 6mm) Pretty Pink Posh. Whew I think that might be a record use of companies for me on a single card!! 

Hop yourself on over to the Catered Crop to check out all of the fabulousness from the design team! Thanks so much for taking some time out of your day to pay this little old blog of mine a visit! ~Lisa

RS #132 & CC ~ I'm Here for You!

Hi there! So much happening these past few days. One of my hubby's sisters had back surgery and another of his sisters will have back surgery in a couple of days! My brother had to have his family dog of 15 years put down. Poor little thing. They new she had a couple of teeth that were bothering her and needed tending to. But once they got to the vet last week, it was discovered she had cancer of the tongue as well. The vet told them they really had no choice, a dog can not live without their tongue. I think the card I'm sharing today would be suitable for any of the three of them.  

I designed this one following the newest sketch from Retro Sketches and will enter it at the Catered Crop as well, they're having a good medicine challenge. I just adore this little lady by Stamping Bella and haven't used her in quite some time. I'm so happy with the way my coloring turned out today! Sometimes getting the skin just right is difficult and the details in her snazzy little boots could make a girl go cross eyed!

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Ours wasn't a total downer. Hubby went to a nearby airport for a small air show and got some nifty photos despite the drizzle on Saturday. And yesterday our son and daughter-in-law bought the mommy to be a new car! Baby girl Elton will have a new chariot to ride around in!!

Thanks so much for stopping by ~Lisa

Catered Crop Guest ~ Hello There!

Hello and a happy Saturday! I was invited to join the Catered Crop as a guest designer this week after being chosen as one of the winners from their last challenge! Imagine my delight when I discovered the new challenge was {Shaker Box}! Check this out...

First up I embossed my white panel with an embossing folder from DeNami Design. Next I die cut my openings using the butterfly from the PTI: Hello Foxy set. After creating the shaker element using a mix of Pretty Pink Posh sequins (4mm Aquamarine, Pink Blush, & Sparkling Clear, 6mm Espresso & Mossy Green) I added the panel to a milk chocolate card base. Next up I used the PPP curved Stitched Border 1 die on some MME papers to create some rolling hills for the fox. I stamped and die cut the fox twice, then did some paper piecing on her sweet little head and tail! The flowers and sentiment are from this stamp set as well.

Be sure to stop by the Catered Crop to check out what their amazing DT has to share and then get busy on your entry!!

Thanks for vising today, hope you have a great weekend! ~Lisa

Catered Crop ~ Smile!

Okay just where did July go??? And June for that matter!! I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by. Why is it that those long cold winter months drag on forever, but summer is gone in the blink of an eye? Oh well what's a girl to do...make a card to cheer herself up ~HA!!! 

The Catered Crop has a vellum challenge going on. I haven't played along with them lately, so I put my Pretty Peonies (PTI) set to work again. I die cut three of the blooms, stamped them with kraft ink and set them aside to dry. Next I stamped this adorable mason jar and label (Oh So Fun set) from Precious Remembrance Shop onto an ivory panel. The smile sentiment is from the Positive Thoughts set.

I made a table base for my jar using my water pen and kraft ink. To color the peonies, I turned them over then colored them with Tombow markers. After deciding how to arrange them in the jar, I stamped the leaves, then added the peonies with foam tape. They look so pretty and have a lovely curviness to the ends of the petals!

Thanks for popping in today. I'll be back tomorrow with a new Paper Sweeties August Inspiration challenge! Hope to see you then ~Lisa

Happy!

Hi friends! I thought I would pop by with a quick post sharing the Father's Day card I made for our son. Most of you know he's a daddy to be!! I've written here before that one of his favorite (MAJOR understatement!!!) things to do is fish! It's a good way for him to get away from the office and relax.

I stamped this adorable Prima image, colored then die cut it with an oval MFT die. He's added to a PTI spiral notebook page cut from adhesive cork. I thought several loops of fishing line and a couple of wood veneer dragonflies were good accents for this one. The sentiment is by Precious Remembrance Shop. The inside was stamped with the PRS Father's day sentiment. Both, along with the arrow, are from the Mom & Dad set.

I think I'll enter this one over at the Catered Crop, their challenge is Manly Men. This little fella doesn't look super manly, but it works for me!

Have a delightful day and thanks for visiting! ~Lisa

Guesting at Catered Crop!

Hi! I'm sharing a card today as a guest designer for Catered Crop!!! The theme...think green, how easy is that!! With everything beginning to green up and bloom it was a refreshing card to design!

I started with this pretty green paper by October Afternoon. After adding it to my card base I attached the paper doily and a filigree die cut border by PTI. More of my favorite PPP chevron twill ribbon and a Reverse Confetti die cut tag came next. My sentiment (RC) & hydrangea (Inkadinkado) are embossed in gold. A little sprinkle of PPP gold cupped sequins for more sparkle finished things off.

Thanks for taking a peek, hope you're enjoying the weekend ~Lisa

TSTR #212 & CC ~ Just For You

We're having a lazy Saturday, how about you? Actually we'll be going to Mass later this afternoon, but our day has started out relaxed and low key! It was only 32 when I walked Max this morning brrrrr. It was a good get crafty morning. The Shabby Tea Room and Catered Crop had challenges that worked together this week and this is what I entered. 

 

For TSTR they have asked for pink, greens. flowers & lace. CC's recipe swap is Put a Bird On It! I used a SU bird and matching punch set along with a SB label 10 die cut that I dry embossed. I added a little gingham bloom from my stash with tiny silver leaves tucked in for a little sparkle. They looked a bit lonely so I added a strip of silver glittered paper to my lace and pompom trims. My two banners were hand cut then stamped with PTI words.

I hope you enjoy your weekend. We plan to go to see a movie tomorrow afternoon. Our neighbor gave us rave reviews for the movie God's Not Dead. Can't wait! ~Lisa

Catered Crop ~ Happy Birthday

A happy Friday to you! I'm honored to be guest designing at the Catered Crop! My entry for their {Heart of the Matter Recipe Swap} was chosen a winner, the prize was to be their guest for the upcoming challenge. This week you are asked to create a card for {Good Birthdays}, easy huh! We all need to keep birthday cards in our stash.

When I think of good birthdays I think of being a little girl, getting dressed in a pretty party outfit, filling out invitations for friends and feeling like a princess for the day!

These little girls in their sweet summery outfits were perfect for this card. I kept my design simple to let as many of them show as possible. Aren't they cute! A doily die cut to hold the sentiment and a layered bloom seemed to be all it needed. But then I received my Pretty Pink Posh Shop package with this cute Honeydew twine and Aquamarine cupped sequins. The colors were a perfect match so on the card they went!

I would also like to invite you to join me at the Craft Storage Ideas blog today for my {All About the Furniture} post!

That does it for me. I hope you'll play along at the Catered Crop. Be sure you link up by 8:00 PM EST on Saturday, March 1. Who knows, you could be their next guest designer!! I'll be back tomorrow with something special for a special friend!! See you then ~Lisa

cc ~ Enjoy the Journey!

Hi friends! I have the pleasure of guest designing for the Catered Crop today! The current challenge is {Map It}. My first card was scrapped due to my hubby thinking it was way too busy!! So I came up with a cleaner more simple card.  Hope you like it! Hope he does too, he's at work and hasn't seen it yet ~ HA!!!  

edit: He's given his stamp of approval!! His words "much better!"

I put together this small collage of items. The Stampabilities compass was stamped in Smokey Shadow ink then colored with markers. A gem in the center was added for a touch of sparkle! I glued a piece of a map to a tag, trimmed it, then added the twine. This cute suitcase by PSX is another of my very old stamps. I stamped it on kraft cardstock, colored with markers and then trimmed it out. I added silver accents to what I thought would be metal. Finally I die cut these MFT roses from a map then added gems to their centers. I found that rolling the thin map into the roses was a bit too flimsy. So before die cutting, I glued the map pieces to scraps of white cardstock. It made the roses look much better. I did some selective inking on my PR sentiment and love the way it looks here!

That's it for me today. This card will be shown at the Catered Crop blog this Sunday along with the rest of the design team. I hope you'll stop by to check out the challenge and play along!! ~Lisa

rs #76, cqc #202, ccrs ~ Enjoy the Journey!

Okay, I have two really weird things to tell you today before I get to my card. First we woke up to a chilly 46 degrees! Yikes people this is August!!! And the second is just as silly as it is weird. I had a dream the other night that I was a speed boat racer LOL! The boats were rubber rafts with big ol engines on them. But get this, mine was POLKA DOT!!!  Bright red with big white polka dots and my helmet was red with a white daisy sporting a polka dot center!!! HAHAHA....I know, weird right!!! Seriously though, if I did race boats mine would most definitely be covered in polka dots. *wink*

But enough of my silliness. I have a card today that I'm entering into three challenges. I've used the latest Retro Sketch as my jumping off point. Then I followed with the new ColourQ colors and topped things off with sparkly sequins for the Catered Crop recipe swap challenge. I think this one has a masculine feel and would be perfect for one of the guys in our family.

I've used one little snippet of Daffodil Delight to anchor the MME dp. I curved the bottom of my next panel along the edge of my PTI Mehndi Medallion. The medium medallions were each stamped twice, the second being punched then added with foam tape. I sprinkled on a few sequins given to me by my SIL (aka: stamping buddy!). I think this pretty red color is my favorite from the bunch! And I must say I'm quite smitten with this sentiment from the Precious Remembrance Shop Journey stamp set.

Well I'm off to pick up something to make for dinner. The fridge is running a bit low. Enjoy your day friends and thanks for stopping by. ~Lisa  

Catered Crop ~ Summer Lovin!

Well hello! I have the happy happy pleasure of guest designing at the Catered Crop for their Summer Lovin challenge! I was chosen last weeks winner in the Button Up challenge for this project. With that came the invitation from Linda to join her design team, as a guest, in the new challenge. I humbly thank you again Linda and am delighted to be sharing this project for the Catered Crop today!!

I knew right away that I would use this sweet little image from Ann-Ticipations. I simply adore this tiny girl with her chubby little tummy poking out and those precious curls! I stamped her on a hand cut tag using a smokey gray ink, then colored her hair and skin with colored pencils. Next I chose this Authentique summer paper collection. I made the three pinwheels from scratch. Each one starting with a square (1 1/4", 1 1/2" & 2"), fastening the centers with a DeNami button. A length of light aqua tulle was tied around the bicycle paper, then knotted at the edge of the tag. 

After adding the largest pinwheel, I pulled the end of the tulle through the slits. Small word banners from the paper collection were tucked into the pinwheel centers.

And that does it for me! I hope you'll stop by The Catered Crop on Sunday July 28th when the team will be sharing their projects. Leave them a little love while you're there. This card will be shared on the CC blog then as well! You can enter a Summer Lovin project of your own right now!!! Hope to see your creations in the gallery  ~Lisa