More Hearts....

ooooooooooooo, FREE is great! Almost everything I used on this card-the border punch, the heart stamp set, and the sentiment, I earned for FREE! Gotta love that! It's another SUO card and I really like how it came together. What a fun mix of colors, dontcha think? I the dp is also new, I told you last week, I'm loving the new Sweet Pea paper pack! I'm shocked at myself, I actually used a narrow ribbon. I think it has been close to a year since I've even touched my 1/4 narrow, grosgrain ribbon!!!! It was just the perfect size for this card.
So I have a question for those of you have used the new clear mount stamps by SU. I am so happy about the new option, will not go back to wood mount! I thought their idea with the clear stickers was ingenious before I got the stamps. I was quite disappointed when I put one on and found that they don't cling nearly as well with the sticker on. Was it just me or does anyone else think this? Thankfully I only tried it out on one, but that one stamp falls off the inside of my box and floats around (which totally bugs me!) and a few times after I inked it up and picked the block up to stamp, it fell off the acrylic block! Just checking. Thanks for stopping by today!
Hugs, Lisa

A Little Christmas

Sunday I had a group of 10 ladies over for my annual Holiday SAS. It is always nice to get together with fellow stampers. I created 3 card designs and they made 4 of each of the designs. They were so pleased to walk out with 12 completed Christmas cards. I was a bit nervous how the whole afternoon was going to go, since it was the first class I've held since dropping my demo ship. They didn't even notice and I think they actually were a bit relieved to not feel the pressure to place an order. I did keep the cards all SU since that is what they are used to. Here's what we did. This one focused on the rich Christmas Cocoa specialty dsp. My sample here shows the snowflakes with a bit of shimmer (thanks to the Shimmer Paints) but the girls just stamped those with versamark. We played with the Shimmer Paints on this next card. This was about as difficult as I got this year, sponging on the white shimmer paint. I really tried hard to keep it simple, I think I did a good job-clean lines, stamping and punching, and a few little ribbon knots or tabs. This one is a close version to a card we did at Cinci Regionals. I added the Petals a Plenty embossing folder on the celery strip and they LOVED this detail. I think those embossing folders, regardless of the brand are one of the greatest paper crafting accessories invented!!! I'm outta here. My house is in shambles, I'm not feeling well, but my new carpeting should be finished up today. I'm scheduling this post, and I hoping to be back up and running later tonight. See you tomorrow! phew!!!!Hugs, Lisa

Short Post Today, Working Hard!

Yep, I'm working hard on some stuff I can't show you. You'll see them soon enough, but for now here's a card I did last week and never posted here on the blog-o! It's my CAS creation for last week's challenge. I picked up some garden twine at Target for a $1 and decided to try a fun laced up look on my simple card. The challenge was to use brads or eyelets on your card.and here's the inside. Woodgrain is so in right now. It's fun to use it in different way.
All product is Stampin' Up! The designer paper is one of my all time faves, Haiku! See you tomorrow! Hugs, Lisa

Saved this one!

I made this one a week or so ago. It was for that awesome color challenge-razzleberry, curry, and black. Love how this medallion stamp can make such a great CAS card. See my strip of curry paper at the top? Any guesses as to why I added it? Yep, tried to stamp the sentiment without my SAMJ and got it crooked. Seriously, I rarely stamp with out this tool anymore. Gotta love the textured cardstock, too. Adds just the right touch of, I don't know what. I just like it!
Hugs, Lisa
ETA: tootin' my horn....did you all see this? Yeah, me!

What to Show, What to Show!

I really have quite a few things to share with you and I don't know where to begin. I did a lot of challenges last week and made at least 3 cards each day. I'm busy working on things for the end of this week and World Card Making day, so I don't have a lot of time to chat. How about this? It's a simple SUO card for the Diva Coffee Break Designs. I LOVED the color combo they challenged us with-Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, and Real Red. Oops! I see I forgot the vanilla with the combo, oh well! See, Kristin, told you I'd get to it! It's a CASE from the SU catty and very clean and simple! I love my big shot and it's so fun to die cut images for fast cards like this. The leaf and the words are little Sizzlit dies that are pretty inexpensive. Have a fabulous Tuesday! Hugs, Lisa

Technique Wednesday!

If you've been around here enough, you'll know I'm not a huge technique person. I love the look of them, but most of the time I'm just too lazy to give it a go. At the SU Regionals last weekend we learned a cool new technique with chalks. Oh, don't grumble....you'll like this I'm certain. AND it was easy and not too time consuming. It's a chalk-glazed-watercolor technique (nope, didn't pay attention to the correct name). It also helped that Kristin had issued a challenge on SCS in the demo forum (WICKED challenge) to use chalk. She here's what you do.

1. scrape off a bit of chalk (I used an hobby blade and rubbed gently down the side of the chalk piece) into an empty container.


2. add a few drops of water to help dissolve the chalk and make a colored pasty-liquid.


3. add a glob of crystal effects and mix that together. You now have a colored glaze to paint your image with.

I used a q-tip to do the painting. Be sure to emboss your stamped image first so you have a border to keep the glaze inside the lines. It really is a cool technique, giving you a soft water colored-look with a glossy finish. Here's a close up to show the shine.

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by. I always love to hear what you have to say. Thanks for all your sweet comments. Hugs, Lisa

Look what I did on Saturday!

Were you worried about me? No. Well, good! I'm here and doing great. I know it is unusual for me to not post for 2 days in a row, but I just haven't been home. Saturday I spent the day stamping downtown with a whole big group of SU demos at the Cincinnati Regional Conference. The day, for me, was all about hanging out with these 3 ladies-Crystal Birr, Becky Carafa, and Kristin Moore! It was soooo good to see them again, catch up, and actually stamp together.

While we were there, we made some cute stuff with the SU set, Berry Christmas! It's in the holiday mini and while I wasn't sure about it when I first saw the set, I'm so glad I now own it. I really liked all 5 projects we made. Here are two of the cards with matching envelopes.
I really like how all the projects we made worked with the same color scheme and the embellishements. I see a Holiday Class in the works!!! I also decided I now need the Soft Suede Patterns dsp, among other things! I even learned a few cool new techniques. Now to hunt down some non-quilted, rough paper towel..... Here's the other full card we did. I'll save the rest for another post. Have a great Monday! Hugs, Lisa

A Little Go Blue and a Card.

So I rarely post pics of my fam, other than those that end up on scrapbook pages. Since these were on my camera as I uploaded some card pics yesterday, I thought some of you may like to see the handsome men in my life! If not, then scroll down to the crafty stuff!

These pictures are from the U of M football game we took the boys to on Saturday while we were up in Michigan. I am surrounded by boys who LOVE all things sports. I like sports, was an athlete myself back in highschool and I enjoy a good college football game, but I enjoy it in small doses! We are BIG Michigan fans, I went there, my DH did his residency there, and that is were we met. I just love all the blue and gold in these pictures. Here they are hanging out at the tailgate before the game.

Almost the best family picture, considered it for our Christmas card, except little man is more interested in his sucker than looking at the camera. Still cute, though!This is what I did most of the game, held Nicholas while he tried to get some rest time in. It was hot and it was a missed-nap-afternoon. Plus he was fighting his cold and just wanted snuggles. I'll take 'em anywhere I can get them.

This is one of the few smiles we got out of Ryan. While he loves football, he was NOT loving the cramped seats and HOT, HOT sun. And then there's my ultimate sports fan, Joshua. He was in heaven. Loved every minute of it and only complained when we left the game early due to the other two. Okay, so on to the craft stuff! This card I did for this week's color challenge on SCS. The colors this week were-elegant eggplant, old olive, and basic black. I subbed out the eggplant and used razzleberry instead. The layout of the card came from a beautiful card featured in our Stampin' Success magazine by Amy Rohl. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day :) Hugs, Lisa

Back to the Grind!

So summer is officially over. Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. We had a fabulous time at my friends wedding, but of course I finally caught the cold that my kids had all last week. UGH! I feel horrible today. Today is going to be a very sluggish day and I have a lot to get done, so this is not good. Here's a quick card to share. I actually made it two weeks ago for one of Mercy's Tuesday sketches. Enjoy! I'm off to spend the moring on the couch! Hugs, Lisa

A bit Distracted!

Okay, so I don't have much to say, there has been a lot going on in the world of SU demos and I am just sick about it. I won't go into it here, at least for now, because I don't know what I'm going to do. I wish it were cut and dry for me, but it's not. Anyway, here's a card I did the other day for the Fall to Layout 57, ironically (to me, at least) it's an SUO card.
Hope your week is going better than mine! Lisa

Happy September 1st!!!

Today is the day you can finally order from the Stampin' Up Holiday Mini! I've shown a couple sneak peeks and I know lots of other fabulous samples have been floating around blogland. Go take a look, there are lots of new and exciting things happening-paper, ribbon, punches, stamps, jewlery, Build a Bear and even two new hostess sets! Here's a card showing the beautiful Autumn Meadows dsp and the Grateful Greetings stamps set. I used Beate's weekend sketch for this one.

If you are interested in ordering you can do so, directly from my Stampin' Up! website. Just click the link in my sidebar. Happy shopping! Hugs,Lisa

Birthday Somethings!!!

This week with Stamp Something is a birthday challenge. Our sponsor is SNR's Card Universe. We all made some super cute birthday cards, go check out the DT.Come play along for a chance to win a fun prize. Just link your card to Mr. Linky on the Stamp Something blog. I {{{heart}}} this color combo-bermuda bay, razzleberry, chocolate chip, and old olive. It's another SUO card (I created this for one of my swap groups) showcasing the new Lattice die and the Birthday Bliss stamp set. I can't stop using that lattice die. Here I decided to cut in in half and create a fun border. What do you think? Keeping this one short and sweet. Check back later for a HHH post with lots of unity goodness! Hugs, Lisa

Contest Entries, Not a Winner

I know who did win and it wasn't me, so I feel safe in sharing these with you! I did these for the Stampin' Up! CAS contest. Each month as a challenge to demo's we can submit cards in categories they choose. Last month there was a clean and simple category and I just couldn't resist sending in a few.
If these look a bit familiar, it's because I CASED myself. hehehe! I created cards like these earlier this summer with non-SU products. I just changed them a bit to make them SUO!!! I'm off to sneak in a little stamping while the boys are downstairs playing. It's a rainy day here and perfect stamping weather. Hugs, Lisa

Here's what we are doing today!

I didn't want to leave you all hanging for another day. We were at the lake the last few days, squeezing in one more long weekend before the boys go back to school. Today is my Stamp Camp and I am excited to see my girls and get some quality stamping time in! Here are the projects we'll be making today. They are all SUO and most are cased from Stampin' Success magazine (it's a SU demo only magazine full of tips and ideas! another perk of being a demo!). This first card is cased from Kristin Moore, though. I loved this card of hers and I changed it up to showcase the new In Colors!

I've got to let them play with the Big Shot. I think people get scared of the cost, BUT I think it is a must have stamping supply! So we are making pillow boxes. I changed up the colors at the last minute and my girls will be making razzleberry boxes with the same ribbon and the tag will be in pumpkin!

We will also be doing a page corner book mark with razzleberry lemonade dsp. It is just adorable, but I forgot to take a picture. Here are the last two cards we'll be doing. I finally ordered the medallion stamp and am soooo happy! It is beautiful!

Here's one with circle circus and birthday bliss! love the pop of olive! Have a great Sunday! Hugs, Lisa

SUO, CAS and Bling!

Don't you just love the acronyms or stamper lingo as I like to call it. Over time I think you just learn and know them, but just in case you ever get lost and want to check out what something means, there is a thread on SCS (yes, they think of everything over there) to help you out. And if you need something more relevant to everyday acronyms or texting codes, a friend sent this to me a while back. I have it book marked for the day I need to reference it. My boys are too young to have cell phones and to be texting, but one day (sooner than I think, I'm sure) I'll be wondering what something means that they have texted in code. Anyway, here's the link. You can type in the text code (I'm sure there is a way cooler name for that, but I'm not cool enough to know it, lol!) and it will spit back the real meaning, in English. Okay, back to my card. It is clean and simple, Stampin' Up! only, and full of bling! The big shot, big bold cupcake die, and punches helped make this card come together extra fast. Colors are soft suede, apricot appeal, regal rose and the new melon mambo. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs, Lisa

Grateful for SUO!

I like to call myself an equal opportunity stamper, I use all products and things I like. I also like to stick to my roots, so to speak, and so I always fall back into Stampin'Up! products and when I do I like to keep them strictly, SUO! This card I made for my neighbor who collected our mail, garbage cans and cared for our fish while we were away last week. I have the BEST neighbors!!! Love the stamp set, Falling Leaves, but tried to save money and only ordered the matching Jumbo Wheel, Bright Blessings. Used up some New In Colors on this one-crushed curry, soft suede, and dusty durango. Hugs, Lisa

CAS Monday on a Tuesday!!!

****second post of the day, scroll down for the Unity August KOTM Sneak Peek****

This week our CAS challenge, posted yesterday, is to use this FABulous card by the one and only, Krystie Lee!!! This is one of my go-to-CAS sketches I feel like I use a lot! Now it's your turn. I cranked out 3 for your viewing pleasure today. The first is an almost exact CASE of Krystie's card. See told, you you'd be seeing more of this set.

Here's one with the Unity July KOTM, just because I can't get enough of this sun. It makes me smile.

And one last one, it's SUO!!! This is my new fave birthday greeting! Papers are from Pink Flamingo dsp pack and the card base is the new Melon Mambo!
Keep it clean and simple!!!! Hugs, Lisa

CAS Monday on a Tuesday!

I decided to hold these off till today (only 1 day late) since I had two posts yesterday. The CAS challenge this week is a color challenge-Turquoise, Orange, and Yellow!!! Use these colors with your CAS cards and be sure to link them to the SCS gallery using the keyword: CAS24. I made two this week. Here you go! The first is all Unity stamps. I couldn't pass up the Confessions kit the other week when Angela put it on sale. Colors I used were-bermuda bay, crushed curry and pumpkin pie (all SU!).
This second one is all SU!!!! I {heart} this little monsters/alien set. It is perfect for my little boy cards and pages. Colors on this one are crushed curry, pumpkin pie, and tempting turquoise. This card is going out to my nephew. His birthday is next week and I know he'll love this! Here's the challenge thread over on SCS. Stop on by! Hugs, Lisa

New SUO!!!!

Check out all the new goodies I used on this card. I {{{{heart}}}} the new In Colors. Have I said that before? mmmmmm, Bermuda Bay! and what about this new cool die for the Big shot? It's the Lattice die and I think it is soooo cool. It measures about 3.25 x 3.25 inches. AND I couldn't be happier about this ribbon. I got it in black and chocolate chip, very cool!

Stamps: Brithday Bliss
Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, and Rose Red markers
CS: Bermuda Bay, Thoroughly Modern dsp, Basic Black textured and whisper white
Accessories: Lattice Bigz Die, Wide oval punch, Ice square rhinestone, Black striped grosgrain, Finial Press embossing folder

Have a Greeeeaaattttt weekend! Hugs, Lisa

Never Enough Birthday Cards

There always seems to be a birthday party for one of my boys to attend. Here is another CAS birthday card, SUO style! Oh, and I've discovered a new size card, and I'm lovin' it! Folded it measures 3.5 x 5.5, so it still fits in a standard A2 envie! Stamps: All in the Family, Family Phrases, Family Accessories, Circle Circus

Ink: Soft Suede, Versamark, black Stazon

CS: Bermuda Bay, Soft seuede, crushed curry, whisper white

Accessories: 1 3/4 circle punch, curly lable punch, Water Wonder Crayons, Aqua Painter, Seeing spots Classy Brass template, curry ribbon, hemp twine

We're off to swim lessons and another beautiful day. Enjoy yours! Hugs, Lisa