W is for Wishes

W is for Wishes

We have a new challenge for you at ABC Christmas Challenge and I'm hosting this one. I can hardly believe that we are nearing the end of the alphabet! Seriously where has this year gone? All you need to do to play along is use the word "wishes" on your Christmas themed project. 

Yes, I used an ivory pearl bling for baby Jesus's face.

{I wanted it to have some dimension}

I stamped my sentiment on the front of my card with Versamark ink and used white embossing powder. This little card has a lot going on actually with a hilly scene, stamped and die cut nativity, shaker window and a snowy background that's accented with white pearls. I colored my stamped scene with Copic markers and I double stamped parts of the stable and cut them out. They were popped up with Scotch foam tape and I love the dimension it adds. The die cut trees are by Taylored Expressions and I used a Sakura white gelly pen to add snow to them as well as the background.

Sponsor for this challenge is Wild Rose Studio

Prize for one lucky entrant is the Winter Bouquet die. 

To see more inspiration by my design team mates visit the challenge blog here. That's all for me today, thanks for dropping by and I'll be back on Friday (finally) with my incoming and outgoing pocket letters for September and October. 

See you then!

Lisa xx

TCC's Gable Box Template...Cutting File

Hello and Welcome!

I'm sharing my design team project for The Cutting Cafe and it features the Gable Box Template....Cutting File. This is a fun way to gift a present or use as a bakery box as I intend to do. During the holidays I like to bake homemade goodies to give friends, neighbors and my hubby's co-workers. The Gable Box will be the perfect packaging for my caramel candies which are a yearly hit with everyone. :)

I used an electric cutting machine to cut my box templates but there's a PDF file included so you can print and cut as well. Here's a tip - if you are using patterned paper you want to pay attention to the orientation of your paper before cutting/printing to ensure the pattern is in the correct direction. The file includes options for cutting with or without a window, a straight or scalloped top edge and other choices (as shown below) for personalized touches.   

My boxes are decorated with Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses, a paper collection that's been in my stash awhile, and I used cut outs from the collection on two of the boxes. The box on the left was decorated with 3D stickers from the 12 Days of  Christmas by My Mind's Eye. Tim's twine is the perfect addition to the top of my bakery (gable) boxes. 

If you'd like the caramels recipe I mentioned earlier click here and enjoy! To view more inspiration featuring the Gable Box Template..Cutting File visit TCC's blog DT post which will go live later today. I have some creative teamies and they have some fun options to share with you! If you leave a comment on that post you'll be automatically entered into a drawing to win 3 FREE sets of your choice from The Cutting Cafe. 

That's all for me today. I'll be back on Wednesday with a DT project for ABC Christmas Challenge and hopefully I'll have the pocket letters for September and October finally ready to post this Friday. 

Have a great day, wherever you are!

Lisa xx 

V is for Vertical

V is for Vertical

Long time no blog! Ugh the past few weeks in my life have been crazy. First we traveled to Chicago for our first visit ever and fell in love. Yes, it does have some issues but we were in the downtown area and never once did we feel uncomfortable or in danger. I've shared photos on my Instagram page (which you can access using my social media icons) and I plan to share some on my FB page as well soon. We took a boat tour and a double decker bus tour and it was interesting to see the city from both vantage points. I also spent an extra week in Nashville, upon my return to Tennessee, visiting my (now 6 week old) grandson and helping out my college girl who's in stress overload these days. Her thesis deadline is the end of the month and she's pulling a lot of all-nighters. She was happy to have her mom around to cook, clean, keep the laundry going, take care of her dog and yes I drove her back and forth to the university each day. She was way too tired to be driving herself and it gave her some extra time in the morning. Hint: she's not a morning person. ;)

Our challenge sponsor is 

Drawn with Character

Prize is winner's choice of 3 images from shop.

Now on to the reason for my post, I'm sharing my DT card for the latest challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. Our hostess, Lorraine A, is asking everyone to create a vertical card. My mojo has taken a hit lately so I turned to You Tube for inspiration and found this adorable card by Vicky Papaioannou.  I used the idea for the moon and background as you'll see if you click the link and while I didn't have the same set of Lawn Fawn stamps that she used I did use Lawn Fawn stamps for my woodland animals and sentiment. I used various dies for the trees and a white Sakura glaze pen adds a snowy effect. The snow drifts are also dies and I used foam tape to add dimension between the layers.  

That's all for me today, pop over to the main challenge blog to see more inspiration by my design team mates or link up your vertical card. I'll be back on Friday to share my incoming / outgoing pocket letters for September. 

Oh, in case you were here before and saw a different card....well I didn't like it very much so I made a new one. Much better, glad that's done lol. ;)

Have a great day, wherever you are.

Lisa xx

Gettin' my Spook On

Howdy, I hope all of you are doing well! 

I have a fun design team share today for The Cutting Cafe featuring one of my favorite files for the fall season. 

Halloween - Fall Milk Carton...Template - Cutting File 

I used it to create 3 Halloween Milk Cartons for my grown trick-or-treaters (aka my kids and DIL). There are 8 designs included in this set which makes it an awesome deal and gives you several creative options. I chose the bat, witch's hat and ghost for my cartons and this has become my favorite way to give each of them something sweet at Halloween. :)

(sentiment is from the Coffin Treat Box set...link below)

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut each carton from cardstock and added designer papers from my stash to the carton as well as Ranger's Liquid Pearls (which I love!). If you don't have an electronic cutting machine that's ok as there is a PDF file included with the set. 

When I cut the carton out I saved the negative image of the ghost and used it on top of the carton (which you can see above). I placed a piece of white cardstock behind the cut out image, added googly eyes and outlined the ghost with Frosted Lace Stickles by Ranger. The BOO sticker is a remnant from an old Martha Stewart Halloween advent calendar that's been in my stash quite a while. For this carton I used a 12 x 12 sheet of Recollections embossed polka dot paper just for fun. 

Designer paper on the remaining 3 sides adds a bit of pizzazz and the Liquid Pearls make it pop. I outlined each bat with Purple Stickles. Can you guess the candy inside?

Again, I used the negative image (this time the bat) and added it to the top of my carton. I punched two holes and run the micro polka dot ribbon through and tied it in a bow. The circular R. I. P. sentiment is from the Coffin Treat Box...Template-Cutting File and I added a paper bottle cap image to the center and surrounded it with Orange Liquid Pearls. It's attached with orange/white twine by Studio G.

The negative image of the witch's hat was attached to a Halloween straw and I printed out a sentiment from the 3 Halloween Shaker Card Templates and Cutting Files. I also used a candy corn sentiment from the Candy Corn Treat Box set and added it to the ribbon closure. Pumpkin Liquid Pearls add a nice border to my milk carton and highlight the witch's hat as well.

I added some acetate designer paper to the back of the hat image and outlined it with Purple Stickles. An orange Goosebump gem adds more sparkle. :)

Don't forget that Regina also offers paper crafting supplies - paper, ribbon, embellishments, acrylic stamps, etc. - at The Cutting Cafe Shop and she has some CUTE paper pads for Halloween and Fall in stock. Be sure to visit The Cutting Cafe Blog on the 7th to see more inspiration featuring Halloween Milk Cartons and Shaker Cards by the design team. You could win 3 FREE SETS from TCC if you leave a comment on the DT post. Good Luck!

See ya soon!

Lisa 

T is for "Two"

Edited Post


T is for "Two"

Our new challenge is up at ABC Christmas Challenge and Dorte is hosting this one. We need to see "two" of something on your Christmas inspired projects. For example, I used two 3D owl stickers, two ribbons and two designer papers on my DT card.
We hope you'll join us for this fun challenge!

*I decided after looking at this card to make some slight changes and tone things down a bit*
What do you think? Better or not??

Sponsor

Sweet Stamp Store

Prize is a $10.00 gift certificate to Sweet Stamps Store.

I used 3D owl stickers from The Paper Studio, a fabric covered Basic Grey brad which I added to the center of my bow, a Verve Stamps Winter Fun tree die inside my shaker plus white glitter and sequins to set my snowy scene.

*One of the changes I made was to back my shaker scene with white and it really helped the tree to pop*

I popped the shaker panel up on Therm 'O Web foam dots and I love all of the dimension on this card. To cut my acetate circles I used a Spellbinders Standard Lg. Circle die and my Sizzix Sidekick die cutter.

Inside of my card

A Verve Stamps sentiment was stamped in Archival Vermillion ink onto a die cut Spellbinders large oval and added to the inside base of my card. Easy peasy!

Do you have your Christmas cards made already? If not, please join us and get a head start so your holidays are stress free this year. :) For more inspiration visit the challenge blog and check out what my design team mates created. We're looking forward to seeing your creations!

Have a great day, wherever you are.

Lisa xx

Sweet cards and a Sweet Surprise

Hi everyone! 

I have two sweet cards to share today that feature one of my favorite quotes by Julia Child. Regina Easter, owner of The Cutting Cafe Shop, designed a custom stamp set for me - Mixin' Up Memories. It's full of baking images, sentiments and this quote plus it also comes with a cutting file for the baking images. September and October are full of "birth"days in our family and we just had a very special "birth"day recently. Our grandson, Tristan Asher, arrived on September 10th at 10:53 pm. He was due on the 13th but like his dad he made an early appearance. When we got the call he was on the way we dropped everything and headed to the hospital. Needless to say we're all smitten with this little one and I am now an official member of the "Mimi" club. So excited!!!

There aren't words that can express how I feel in this picture. 

Mimi loves you Asher, Mom and Dad too!

While I could go on and on about this new little bundle of joy I better get back to sharing my cards. I created them super fast by using Hero Arts card bases, a chocolat collage sheet and the Mixin' Up Memories stamp set. Here's a close up of the above card.

Julia was right, "A party without cake is just a meeting."

Here's my second card using the same quote and another image from the collage sheet.

I love the sweet images from this collage sheet but I'm afraid it has been retired. However if you like these you may also like some that are similar, which you can find here. I added small gemstones and pink organza ribbon to both cards as finishing touches. 

After stamping the quote twice in Sepia Archival ink I hand cut two banners and added one to each card. I love these sweet cards and they were a breeze to create. 

Thanks for the visit today! I've been a bit scarce around here as I am a wee bit preoccupied these days. ;) Have a great weekend everyone and do stop by The Cutting Cafe Shop to see this stamp set plus the other crafting goodies Regina offers in her shop.  

Hugs,

Lisa

Autumn Blessings

Autumn is full of blessings and for our family we are expecting the best blessing of all, our first grandchild. Our grandson is due one week from today and this Mimi and Papa are so excited to welcome him into the world! We're also blessed that our DIL has experienced a healthy pregnancy and as time nears for his arrival we're praying for a safe delivery for both of them. I'm looking forward to seeing Jessica as a mommy because she was born to be one. :)

My card today is a design team project for The Cutting Cafe and it incorporates three fall templates...printable sets.

AUTUMN SENTIMENT CARD FRAMES PRINTABLE SET

ACORN SHAPED CARD TEMPLATE...CUTTING FILE 

WITH GRATITUDE PRINTABLE STAMP SET 

The front of my card features the top two and the last set was used on the inside. When I was shopping my stash I came across some old....I do mean old...autumn borders by K and Co. so I wanted to use those (at least once lol) and the glitter on them inspired me to add some sparkle to my acorn template. I downsized the acorn then cut it with my Silhouette, which by the way you do not have to own an electric cutting machine as all files come in PDF form as well, and cut it out. To add the sparkle I went over my acorn with a brown Wink of Stella glitter pen. I love those pens and white dots were added with a Sakura white gel pen. To wrap it up (ha ha pardon the pun) I used brown/white twine by Doodlebug. 

Here's the inside of my card

I printed the With Gratitude Printable Set onto parchment paper and used scattered straw Distress Ink around the edges.  Acorn border from K and Co. was added to the bottom and all that was left to do was adhere it to the base of my card. 

Be sure to check out all of the fabulous fall templates...cutting files...printable stamp sets here. There's more inspiration by the DT tomorrow on TCC blog so check that post out too!

The Cutting Cafe

Have a great day everyone and thanks for the visit!

Hugs,

Lisa