Viva Las Vegas Baby!

Okay, who are the AI fans? OMG! What a fabulous results show, and I won't give away the winner (just in case you had to DVR it) BUT I was SOOOOO happy with the winner although I was surprised. That's all I'm sayin'...
If you were in the gallery on SCS last weekend (and even up till Tuesday) then you saw all the uploads for VSN. The theme this month was Viva LasVegas. I didn't play along over the weekend, but I got caught up with some chit chat on Monday in the Unity forum and a couple of my friends got me interested in playing along. I had time to crank out two challenges Tuesday morning. This first one was for Lee Murphy (if you know Lee, then you know she LOVES ALL things blingy!) she challenged us to use a full glittered panel on our card. I have mixed feelings about glitter, it's a love hate relationship. I love the look of it, BUT I hate working with it. I usually use it in small controlled amounts, but for this I went with a favorite way to use glitter-Iridescent Ice embossing powder. You stamp your image on a piece of cardstock and then ink up the whole piece with Versamark ink, cover with Iridescent Ice ep and then hit it with a heat gun. Here's my card-images are from the Unity May KOTM and papers are SU, Raspberry Tart.

Here's a detail shot. You can see here I paper pieced the dragonfly and the added some kaiser rhinestones to the antenne.

This second was for for Ashley's Lucky 7 challenge. The embellishments you used had to be used in increments of 7!

I kept this simple and used the Flowers From Neverland stamp by Unity, colored them in, and then finished them off with 7 black Kaiser Pearls. Do some shopping at Limelight. Mandy just got in some new October Afternoon paperpacks! And here are this week's specials:
All Prima is 25% off!
All open stock 12x12 Basic Grey patterned paper is 50% off!

Hugs, and enjoy your day! Lisa

More VSN and a SALE!

I told you yesterday that I completed four of the VSN challenges. Here are the other two I did. I had great intentions on finishing up a few more yesterday and then I panicked about my swaps and the fact that my DS is having his tonsils out tomorrow and I know my stamping time will be limited this week while I nurse him back to health. YIKES! I got busy working on those swaps and will finish them up today. Anyway, here are the last two. This first one was called My Obsession. You had to make a card about something you are obsessed about. Easy for me, it is all about stamping and everything that goes along with it. Right now I'm obsessed with sewing on my cards, buttons, ribbon, and owls (or just birds in general). I combined them all here.
Oh, yeah, wanted to give credit to Vera for the technique on this card. I sorta cased this card of hers cause I loved it. The next challenge was to pull out and use a long lost stamp. You know, one of those sets you just had to have but then only ended up using a few times. The SU set, Take Shape was one of those sets for me. It was in one of the first mini's after I became a demo and I thought it was so versatile. I think I only made a few samples for workshops then I moved on.
That's all the creativity from me today. But be sure to stop by Limelight, there is a GREAT weekly sale going on. If you need or want some paper now's the time to get some.

For ALL individual sheets of cardstock and patterned paper (that means all October Afternoon ;) you know I love that stuff!), for every three purchased, you'll get one free. Mix and Match!! You will enter in their choice of free paper in the comments section of the order.

Hugs on this fabulous Monday, Lisa

VSN-did you play along?

Yesterday was the Feb. VSN (virtual stamp night) over at SCS. It was my first VSN participation ( I did do the mini-crush event last month, so that may be my first official one) and it was fun. I only wish I had a chance to do all of the challenges. The hosts this month did a fabulous job organizing the event! Kudos to you girls! I almost forgot all about it when Kristin emailed me and asked if I wanted to stamp along with her. We got a chance to chat a little and it sure helped make the time pass on another cold Saturday afternoon without Tim home. Here are two of the cards I did using a new PTI set, Damask Designs. I really wanted this set because it is so beautiful, but also because one of my former GSG members, Dawn McVey designed it!!! I'm so excited for her and all that has happened to her in this past year. She's a stamping super star!

I tried a new technique with this card, melted crayon. I even put my iron to good use (I rarely iron anything, LOL!) It was fun to try, but don't see myself doing this too often.

This is a clear acetate card and I REALLY like how it came together. I used some more new PTI goodness on this, along with the same set. The new color is Melon Berry (I was surprise how, almost dead on this color is to last year's SU IN Color, Groovy Guava. In case you were wondering). I paired it up with PTI's Berry Sorbet and a pop of Raspberry Fizz. I did use their Vintage Cream ink on the acetate and it is not drying, so I will need to re-do this card with some stazon. It looks pretty for the picture, but it is all smeared up now since my DS got a hold of it. Enjoy your Sunday! It is a sad one around here as we say good-bye to a friend and neighbor today. He lost his courageous battle to cancer last Monday. He was young, and leaves behind a beautiful wife and two kids. My heart and prayers go out to the Ballard family!

Hugs, Lisa

A Box for Some Cards

SCS is such an amazing resource for anything and everything stamping related. I found this great little A-2 box tutorial and have made several of them. They are so easy to make. The other weekend, when I played along with the Crush Mini VSN on SCS, one of the challenges was to create a box of some sort to hold your cards. I did this one and wanted to show you. I am finding myself making more and more 3-d items and really like making them, especially when they come together quickly!

Stamps used are Giggle Grove and two images from Unity Jan. Kit of the Month. The letters are from one of my fave SU alphabets, Jumbo Outline alpha. I also used some retired SU ribbon and paper (my beloved, Wasabi was calling my name!). Short and Sweet today! Have a good one!

Hugs, Lisa

VSN, a first for me! and New SU catty goes LIVE!

YES!!! At noon today (MT) you can now order from the 2009 Spring/Summer Stampin' Up! catty!!!

We were frozen in this weekend. It was cooooold! Tim worked and the boys were playing with the neighbors, so I got some stamping time. SCS held their VSN Mini Crush . There were 12 challenges posted and they were a lot of fun. I did not do all 12 but I did complete 7 of them. The girls that hosted (some of my FAVE stampin' peeps!) it did a fabulous job. I loved the little video intro on quite a few of the challenges. It was so fun to see and hear IRL some of the friends we chat with online. I won't share all my projects today, but here are a few to start with.

I think this was my fave. It was a Save the Date challenge, you had to include those words on your card somewhere. I did this for a date night DH and I will have this Friday (my parents are coming into town!!).

This next one was for a new technique, Burned Batik. While I'm still not sure about this card, it was still fun to try something new. Check out that texture on the choc. chip cs...it is from one of the new textured plates that SU is now carrying!

okay, and one more. Since the theme was all about LOVE, this challenge card was to use something soft and tender on your card. I did this one up with a row of felt flowers. The images are from Unity!

That's all for today. The kiddos are off of school and DH is home. Hopefully we'll get out and do something fun. Nothing is planned yet, but dinner out would be nice! Have a good day!

Hugs, Lisa