I decided to do a challenge over at SCS today. I am feeling a little frustrated and not knowing what my deal is. I am trying to outdo the last card so to speak and have had some disappointing results. I don't want my stamping to become a chore. I want to love what I do. Stamping is my therapy and it needs to stay fun! So in fun here is my challenge card. I combined the two challenges WT115 and SC126. We were supposed to use a set that is retiring and then I did the sketch challenge with that set.

I decided to use black as my base and found this beautiful piece of paper in my stash! It is Daisy D's marketplace floral. Can we say yummy? I love the sunflowers in this paper. On my cross pieces I used black as the base, marigold morning stamped with my chickenwire bg and linen bg in black. The second was a black base paper pierced along the left edge with both edges distressed. I used cranberry crisp and stamped the linen bg in black on it & scalloped the edge with my creat-a-cut. I put a strip of the marketplace floral because I wanted to showcase the sunflowers. On my cute little chicken, I just water colored him with cranberry crisp, marigold morning, bravo burgundy, so saffron, and close to cocoa. I went around him with some always artichoke. I paper pierced the scallops on the black piece after punching with my square scallop punches. I finished the piece with copper brads in the right hand corner and black and white polka dot gross grain ribbon from Michael's. Thanks for looking!

Big Caribbean Paisley Blossom

I am really going to miss cool caribbean when it goes in one month. I have stockpiled it and hope it lasts a long time. I decided I wanted a monochromatic card with it. I started with a square card (truth be told I need to order envelopes and I still have some square ones!) I used my paisley bg stamp inked in white craft at the top. The bottom is friends and flowers ss kit from Stampin'Up!. I scalloped the bottom and used my sewing machine to stitch the scallops and also at the top of it. The next layer is cool caribbean distressed around the edges to frame the whisper white cuttlebugged square. The flower was inked with cool caribbean and stamped on whisper white, cut out and inked around the edges with more cool caribbean. I stamped the little flowers from paper tray in caribbean with white craft centers. Big pieces was what I used to create the center of the flower. I stamped it and pierced the edges of the flower. I stamped polka dots and petals in the center and used stickles on the petals finishing it with a brad. I sewed around the edges of the flower on my sewing machine as well. This is going to a friend who had surgery today. Thanks for looking and enjoy the possibilities!

Lesa

More pics of our trip back east!

This had to be the highlight of our trip! We went to Palmyra New York and went to the Sacred Grove! This is my sweetheart and my son walking in the Sacred Grove. It was so peaceful and a beautiful way to spend Mothers Day. If any of you have questions about why this place is special see the link at the bottom of my page for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In short we believe that our prophet Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ in this beautiful grove of trees on the edge of the Smith family farm. We wanted our son to experience the beauty and spiritual experience here, before he leaves on his mission in July to Brazil. It was a wonderful Mothers Day though I missed being at home with my other family members.

Jacob loved Times Square! We took him to Bubba Gumps for dinner and he just sat and watched out the window at all the people. He was awestruck. He also enjoyed strolling around Central Park. He was in awe at Ground Zero. The feeling there is still pretty solemn although a couple of years ago it was more so.

We very much enjoyed our experience at Wicked! This pic is of my husband and 19 year old son. I will never look at the Wizard of Oz the same again! We loved it! We also had the opportunity to snag tickets to The Pirate Queen and very much enjoyed that too! These weren't our first Broadway shows, but it was Jacob's first time. My husband and I saw Lion King as the first and until Wicked nothing has compared! We saw Beauty and the Beast and The Phantom of the Opera the second year. Last year we saw Mama Mia. Our favorites are hands down the Lion King and Wicked. I loved Phantom but the hubby wasn't so keen on the Opera in it. Hee hee. Well I hope you enjoyed your Mini tour of New York City and the surrounding area we sure did. Have a great week and now I hope to stamp!

New layout

I finally got brave and decided to try something new! I have had this designed for some time and for now I am going to keep it simple. I hope you like the look. I will leave it for a few days and see if I am loving it. If not I will try something else. Thanks for your support and patience.
Lesa

feel better lil lady

I need a feel better card for a dear friend. I used Papertrey Ink's little lady, green thumb and paper tray to do this card. I am loving my clear stamps. They are really fun to play with. I will always love my Stampin'Up! stamps more! I love the wood mount and will never get rid of those. These are just fun for a change and I love the fresh design and high quality of Papertry Ink!

I started with a chocolate chip base and zig-zagged the edge with my sewing machine. I used the friends and flowers dp and Au chocolate and scalloped the edge with my creat-a-cut. I stamped with cool caribbean, so saffron, and chocolate chip to do my lady bug, polka dots and flowers. There are stickles on the ladies little antennae and her polka dots as well as the centers of the yellow flowers. I cut out my slider with my slider die and cuttlebug using a chipboard coaster. The dots on it are covered in stickles as well. My ribbon is from Jody's ribbon share and on the chocolate stripe I frayed the edges of the ribbon. I used scallop edge scissors for the scallop edge on the right side of the card. Thanks for looking. Have a great Memorial Day everyone!

Lesa

More pics of trip back East!

I promised more pics of my trip and then fell off the wagon. You would think I am busy right now or something. I am totally trying to stamp, but life keeps getting in the way!

Here are a few pics of the Lancaster and surrounding area. Did ya notice the Bachelor Andy is from Lancaster? I was so happy he picked Tessa! They are adorable together. Sorry I got off the subject. These pics show the charm of the Amish country. I love the one of the kids.

laughter in flowers

I am so loving my new papertrey ink stamps! This is from the green thumb set. I love this dandelion flower. It just makes me happy to look at. I started with a chocolate chip square 5 1/4 x5 1/4 base and used my scissors to distress the edge. The pallete o' prints layer is so saffron stripes run through my new cuttlebug folder and the edge scalloped with my creat-a-cut. I sanded the paper after to expose the white core of the paper. The chocolate chip layer is paper pierced. I stamped my purty flowers with so saffron, true thyme and the words with chocolate chip craft. I embossed the words with clear ep. I put a piece of true thyme ribbon from Stampin'Up! around the white layer after I sponged the edge with chocolate chip. I added stickles to the center of the flowers for sparkle. The corner is punched with my sizzix corner die and my cuttlebug. I dotted the corners with my white signo gel pen. The flowers are primas with a so saffron brad in the center. Thanks for looking and enjoy the possibilities!

I needed another graduation card for a friend of my son. This is what I came up with. I used my new little lady set from Papertrey Ink. I love it! I can't wait to experiment more with my new toys. The base layer is rose red layered with basic black. The polka dot layer is from some premade cards I got at the dollar spot at Michaels. I used my creat-a-cut to cut a scalloped edge on my real red pallete o prints dp from Stampin'Up!. I did faux stitching at the top and bottom on basic black cs. The gingham ribbon is from Michaels. I stamped little lady in basic black and rose red with tiny cool caribbean flowers and black polka dots surrounding her. The flower is a prima with a rose red brad from Stampin'Up! in the center. I used stickles on her spots to give her sparkle and then finished with 3 black brads from the vintage brads also from Stampin'Up! I hope you like her.

Lesa

I finally stamped!

I had to stay up darn near all night, but I finally stamped! It felt so good. Those of you who are addicted to stamping know just what I mean. ;) I really didn't know who this was for or anything until I completed it and now I have the perfect recipient. I started with pretty in pink as my base and cut it 4 1/4 x 11 inches. I stamped the canvas bg stamp in chocolate chip and sponged the edges. I used my pretty new designer paper that I got in a blog candy I won! It is Rebecca from Stampin'Up! and was the inspiration for my colors. I used chocolate chip to frame the Rebecca and paper pierced it all the way across the top. My creat-a-cut scalloped the edges and created the ric rac piece. I stamped happy harmony in pretty in pink and chocolate chip then used my pretty in pink marker to create the shading on the flowers. I spritzed with chocolate chip marker and used stickles for sparkle on my flowers. The dream big piece was done using chocolate chip craft and just using part of the words then embossed in clear ep for shine. I used my cuttlebug stamp die cut and a chipboard coaster to create the frame. The flower was pinkish and is sponged with chocolate chip ink and a little bling added to the center. The brads are copper. I got my ribbon from Michael's and used some linen thread around the knot of the bow for added interest. Enjoy because I sure did! ;)

Arrrrrrrggggggg!

I am pouting! I just want to stamp! Ok frustration over (well not really) I am making graduation announcements and they are taking forever and I hate repetitive stuff and if I don't stamp soon I am going to burst. There I got it out. Back to announcements and hopefully some stamp time for me when it is all over.

Here is a card I never showed anyone. I used the flannel plaid bg stamp in cool caribbean on the base and then stamped the swirls and lined them with my signo gel pen. I did a double line of faux stitching along the left side and a row of ric rac. The flower was water colored and then put through my xyron and glittered! Love dazzling diamonds. I don't remember what dp I used. The little square of it was punched with my scallop square punch. I used my 5 in one template for the envelope and the card was cut to fit that size. I doodled on the envelope as well and added a glittered flower to it. Pretty simple, not my favorite but I needed to put something on here! I hope I get more stamping time in this week!

My trip!

Hi everyone I am back! We had an incredible week. My husband works as operations manager for a large truck stop and they have a trucking show in Lancaster Pennsylvania every spring. This company flies us back and we attend the show and then stay a few days longer and play. First off let me tell you I love the Amish country! It is my favorite and I will never tire of being there. You people in Pennsylvania are so lucky to have the beauty of your state. We don't have many trees back in Idaho and what we do have is mostly pine trees. I am amazed every time I go back east and see the gazillions of trees! Idaho has its beauty as well by the way! ;)

When the trucking show was over we headed to New York City. This is our 4th trip there and although I wouldn't want to live there, I love exploring all there is to see. Our first night was our first time to see Wicked! Can I just tell you it rivaled The Lion King in my favorites! I will never look at the Wizard of Oz the same way again. We have tried to get tickets for a couple of years now and they were so expensive that we held off. I can't wait to see it again! The next night we happened to snag tickets for The Pirate Queen. That was incredible as well.

We then headed to Palmyra to visit the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cummorah! When we drove into the area the sun was setting so we went to the Hill Cummorah and watched the sunset. It was incredibly amazing and indescribable. Sunday morning we attended church and then headed for the Sacred Grove. It was very spiritual for us as we believe this is where our prophet Joseph Smith saw God and his son Jesus Christ. We wandered around for a really long time and didn't see other people as we were in the grove. It was a wonderful experience as we took our son who has received his mission call to serve in Brazil, Porto Alegre south mission later this summer. When our young men turn 19 they have an opportunity to serve the Lord for two years as a missionary. This is our first missionary and it is bittersweet. We are thrilled about his choice! The Mom in me makes me want to stow away in his suitcase just so I can make sure he is ok. They have a mission president and his wife who will be there to watch over him and with the Lord on his side I know he will be watched over.

For the final leg of our trip we headed back to Philadelphia which is where my husband served his mission. We toured the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The highlight of Philly for my husband is always his stops to Campo's on Market street to get his yearly fix of Philly Cheese steak. He even has them freeze some and we bring them home! We also had an opportunity to walk over to Penn's Landing a view a beautiful military ship that was there. They had been giving tours earlier, but unfortunately we missed that.

Well my friends it feels wonderful to be home and off those planes. I can't wait to stamp and have some new paper sitting here calling my name. I hope to play a little today! ;) Have a great week and check back. I will post a few pics from the trip in a little while.
Lesa

Hey friends,
I am at Palmyra New York tonight and will be back home on Monday! Hang in there and I will get something up hopefully on Tuesday! I am itching to stamp after a week away! I will also update you on our incredible trip along with pics! We are having so much fun!
Lesa

I got blog candy from Paula Bloom! I got clear stamps and ribbon from Michael's! Our Michael's doesn't carry the clear stamps so I am totally thrilled. I needed a birthday card for a neighbor this week and this is my only stamp day til next week. I think I will be in withdrawal for sure! ;) I used pretty in pink as my base and stamped it with my linen bg in chocolate chip. I pierced the bottom and used my chocolate chip marker to faux stitch it. I used my floral bg stamp in pretty in pink on whisper white cs for the first layer. I used my new creat a cut to do the scallop edge across the bottom. Three eyelets were put on the bottom in pretty in pink with my crop o dile. I stamped a swirl from my Ronna Farrer stamps in close to cocoa. My word window punch was used to cut out my celebrate stamp and bling was glued to the swirls. I love this square flower and stamped it in brown stazon, then water colored it with chocolate chip and pretty in pink. There is stickles in the center and then I sewed around it to add interest. The ribbon is Michael's and the flower was punched with my Stampin'Up! punch and then a prima flower in chocolate and a bling added to the center. Enjoy and I will see you all next week!

Lesa

Just to let you know, I am crazy busy right now! I will probably be gone for about a week and a half! Sorry. I will try and get something new up either today or tomorrow and then all of next week is out. I will update later as to why! Thanks for checking in and enjoy the possibilities!