La-La’s Weekly Wednesday Challenge #10

Yay! It's time for another La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! Wow - can you believe this is already our tenth challenge? Time sure flies when you're having FUN!

This week our challenge was set by the talented Lisa and here's what she said: "My challenge is to use ribbon as your main embellishment. It doesn't have to be the only one, but let's show off our best ribbon design work!"

Ribbon is one of my fave 'bellies, so I was thrilled to see this challenge! Here's what I came up with:


I used the new Christmas Rosie with Bird stamp and this sketch from Stamp with Fun:


I don't normally use such complicated sketches, but I figure every once in a while I need to step outside of my comfort zone! And I'm glad I did because it was fun to be able to use all these different patterns (all from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding line which were in my last DT package from Irina!)

Rosie was stamped and watercolored, then I sponged ink all around the edges, all with Distress Inks. I then flocked all the trim on Rosie's outfit and the chick's hat and boots! Here's a close shot:


I added a lot of layers (all sponged with the same ink and machine sewn), and a sentiment flag. I punched 2 snowflakes out of glitter cardstock and poked a brad through each one that was tied with a bit of ribbon. Two of the layers were wrapped with the same ribbon, and then the snowflakes attached over the ribbons.

Other challenges:

• Daring Cardmakers - Favourite Things: use 5 of your favorite things (papers, embellishments, tools, styles, etc.). Mine are patterned paper, sewing, ribbon, Nestabilities, and coloring!
• Creative Card Crew - snowflakes

We hope you'll play along with us this week - all the details can be found on the La-La Land Crafts Blog. And don't forget to check out all the amazing creations from the DT and Guest DT! TFL!

Holiday Coffee To Go!

This week the There She Goes challenge is to "create a holiday card in 10 min. or less that can be easily mass produced." I don't have any TSG holiday stamps yet so I looked through my collection to see what I could turn into a holiday stamp, and I picked the Let's Get Together set. I used the to go cup and a couple pieces of old SEI paper to make some holiday coffee:

I stamped the cup on the kraft cardstock base and also on the striped patterned paper. While waiting for the ink to dry, I cut a strip of the happy holidays paper and punched it with the scallop border punch, tied on a bit of ribbon, and glued on 2 teeny Swarovski crystals. By now the ink was dry so I cut out the bottom portion of the cup from the PP and glued it to the base. I quickly colored the top with colored pencils and glued the border underneath the cup. Definitely less than 10 minutes to make and easy to mass produce! I hope you like it and TFL!

Happy Days Pile It On!

I have another Pile It On! card for you today! Our sponsor this week is Stamps and Smiles and our challenge is to use the colors blue, green and yellow (and of course combine with at least 1 other challenge). Here's my card:


In case you don't already know, Stamps and Smiles has a fun project challenge every Tuesday and this week they challenged us to make shaker cards. I haven't made a shaker in a LONG time, so I jumped on the inspiration!

I used the Your Next Stamp set Happy Days Mermaid and a sketch from Sunday Sketch & Stamp, which is being sponsored by Your Next Stamp! The sketch runs for 2 weeks starting today, so you have plenty of time to play! Here it is:


I stamped the mermaid, colored with Copics, added Stickles to her tail, then cut her out and popped her up with foam boosters. I cut 2 different papers for the background, then added the homemade rick-rack strip (cut with giant scallop scissors) over the seam. I used 2 layers of craft foam to make the shaker and added clear micro beads for the shakey part. I have to say I'm having a ton of fun just shaking the card around!

Lastly, this card also fits the Paper Blooms challenge - make a circle card. I hope you like it and TFL!

Witch Lala

Today I have a card that I made for a bunch of challenges and also because I really wanted to use my Witch Lala stamp from La-La Land Crafts!


I colored Lala entirely with Copics except for the line of green around her irises and the white hi-lights both done with colored pencils. She was then cut out and popped up on foam boosters.

Here's a close shot of the adorable Lala:


The papers and sentiment are from the My Mind's Eye Boo to You! collection. The sentiment was actually cut from that extra little strip on the bottom of the 12x12 paper that has the manufacturer and collection name on it!

I used Sketch 37 from Card Patterns:


And now for all the other challenges:

• Pile It On! - Ready for Halloween
• Cupcake Inspiration Challenge - I was inspired by the witch all in black with grey hair, the brown frosting and the silver sprinkles
• Stamp with Fun - Halloween
• Cupcake Craft Challenges - Things That Go Bump In the Night
• Kaboodle Doodles - Spooky
• Tuesday Taggers - Halloween
• My Time to Craft - Halloween Colours
• Crafty Creations - All Hallow's Eve
• Joanne B's Birth-O-Versary challenge - project with a Buttony Bow

Whew! What a list! I hope you like my card and TFL!

La-La’s Weekly Wednesday Challenge #9

If you're looking for the Your Next Stamp Challenge #2 post, it's directly below this one. Thanks!

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It's time for another fun La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week our theme was set by our awesome DT Coordinator Jane, and is Sparkle! You can use glitter, Stickles (or other glitter glues), glitter pens like Spica or Stardust, or any embellishments that sparkle on your projects.

I used Sweet Rosie and here's what I came up with:


I colored Rosie with a combo of Copics and colored pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits (definitely my fave coloring method for Rosie - I just feel like it suits her!). I added some AIG glitter to the dots on her dress, the Nestie mat, and also the sticker letters.

I still had the SEI Chick-A-Dee collection out from a previous card so I used it for this one too, and I followed the Unscripted Sketch 27.

Don't forget to check out all the amazing DT and Guest DT creations (links in my sidebar), and we'd love to have you play along with us! All the details can be found on the La-La Land Crafts blog. TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #2

Yay! It's time for the second Your Next Stamp Challenge! This week our challenge was set by Lana and it's to make a shaped card. I really wanted to use my new Fhiona and Friend Penguin set, so I got out my old Sizzix ornament die and came up with this card:


I stamped the penguin once on white cardstock and once on the polka dot paper. Then I colored the white version with Copics and cut him out. He was popped up with foam boosters onto the polka dot version, which was cut out and layered onto the red scalloped circle.

I used the following Imaginisce papers: Sugar Sprinkles (polka dot), So Beary Merry (red scalloped circle), and Comfy Cozy (snowflake). I cut the top out of silver cardstock and added a bit of silver cord as a "hanger," then finished off the card with some hand stitching, ribbon and buttons. Lastly the sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas (Deck the Hall set).

We'd love to have you play along with us and we only have one rule for our challenges - you must use a Your Next Stamp image. If you don't have any yet, you can still play! The Halloween digis are available in the store and I can think of some great shaped cards that would go perfectly with them! For the full details about the challenge, please see the YNS Challenge blog. TFL and have a great day!

Your Next Stamp Card Mingle

On the Your Next Stamp Fans Yahoo group (here's the link to join if you're not already a member), we had a card mingle, which is basically where you send a card to someone and get a card from someone in return. The only rule was that we had to use a Your Next Stamp image. Now that my recipient has received my card, I can share it here with all of you:


I used the Flying High Fhiona set and a Mojo Monday sketch (flipped on its side). I stamped Fhiona, colored with Copics, and paper pieced her dress and balloon. Then I cut her and the balloon out. I stamped just the little portion of string on the blue paper and then glued Fhiona and the balloon down to match the bit of string. The clouds were stamped and cut out, and then mounted with foam boosters. Lastly I stamped the sentiment (also from the set) right onto the patterned paper with the help of a stamp positioner. I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: patterned papers - Fancy Pants (Daily Grind collection); border punch - Martha Stewart.

Whiskers with Pumpkin

I have a La-La Land Crafts Halloween card for you today:


I used Whiskers with Pumpkin and some adorable papers from My Mind's Eye. I watercolored the image with Peerless watercolors, then finished off the card with some ribbon from my stash, a Prima flower with crochet thread (to look like a spider if you couldn't tell!), and a hanging charm. The border punch is from Martha Stewart. I hope you like it and TFL!

Challenges:

• Charisma Cardz - distressing
• Cute Card Thursday - spooky cards
• PaperPlay - favorite embellishment (ribbon!)
• Stampin' B's - Halloween card

Snowy Day Pop-Up Card

ETA: This is my last official post as part of the Softpencil DT. I've made the very difficult decision to leave the team, but I still love Elizabeth's images so I'm sure I'll have more Softpencil cards in the future! Thanks so much to Elizabeth for having me on the team!!

It's Softpencil Thursday again! This week the DT got to work with this adorable image called Snowy Day and our challenge was to make a pop-up card. Here's what I came up with outside:


I colored the image with a combination of Copics and colored pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. I also added some Stickles to all the snowflakes and the ground lines for sparkle.

And for the pop-up part, here's the inside:


I printed and cut out larger versions of the girl and bunny and colored them both with Copics. The snowflake dangling in the center is a Sizzix die that I used on Doodlebug Sugar Coated Cardstock. I drew in the ground lines and the snowflakes and sentiment are from C.C. Designs. I hope you like it!

I just wanted to remind you about the Softpencil Challenges that are going on over at our Paper Craft Planet group. We'd love to have you come and play! And lastly, don't forget to check out what all the other DT gals did with this image and challenge! TFL!

La-La’s Weekly Wednesday Challenge #8

It's Wednesday and we're back to our regularly scheduled programming - La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge #8! To celebrate the release of the new Christmas Collection, our theme this week is to make a Christmas or Winter project. Here's my card:


I was so happy to play with Christmas Kirby because I'm definitely a dog person and he's just adorable!

I stamped out Kirby twice, colored with Copics, and did some flocking on his hat brim and pom, and the stocking brim and stars. I cut out just the Kirby with hat portion and layered it over the first with foam boosters for dimension. You can see it better in this close shot (as well as how fuzzy that flocking really is!):


I used a sketch from Unscripted Sketches and some fun papers from the Imaginisce Polar Expressions line.

We hope you'll play along with us this week! All the details are on the La-La Land Crafts blog. TFL!

Other materials used: ribbon - May Arts; button - Papertrey Ink; glitter chipboard letters - American Crafts; border punch - Fiskars; silver cord.

Fairy Wishes

Sorry I haven't been around for a while - I got really sick on Wednesday night and am finally recovering just in time to show you my Pile It On! card. This week our theme was to use Aly's Sunday Challenge sketch:


And here's my card:


There was another reason why I made this card - it's also to celebrate the birthday of my fellow Pile It On! and La-La Land Crafts DT member, Kim!! If you have some time, please pop over to her fab blog and wish her a happy birthday, and you could also congratulate her for winning The Greeting Farm's Design My Sprout Contest (here's her post about it)!

Kim, if you're reading this - I hope you have a most wonderful day!!

Other challenges:

• Flutter By Wednesday - card with a butterfly or fairy
• Cute Card Thursday - use a charm
• Charisma Cardz - recipe: 1 ribbon, 3 flowers, 3 papers, 1 charm

I hope you like it and TFL!

Materials used: Fairy Good Day stamp set - There She Goes; patterned papers - Memory Box; ribbon - May Arts; flowers - Prima; Copic markers; Stickles glitter glue; bead caps and jump rings - Firemountain Gems; brads - Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts; tiny rhinestones and charm - ebay.

Your Next Stamp Challenge #1

Hi! If you're looking for the La-La Land Crafts Blog Hop, it's the post directly below this one. Thanks!

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Yay! We have our first Challenge at Your Next Stamp today! But before I get to it, I have a winner to announce from my World Card Making Day post. I had many comments, but only 7 that listed their favorite YNS stamp/stamp set. I used Random.Org and it chose #1 (wow - when does that ever happen?!), and that lucky person is Angela! Angela, please email Karen (karen (at) yournextstamp (dot) com) to claim your 2 free digi images!

And now on to this week's challenge! It was set by Amy and is a color challenge: use mostly Pink and Yellow on your project. All of the Starlets used the brand new Halloween digi images that are available today from Your Next Stamp. Here's what I came up with:


I used the Cute Witch and Happy Halloween set. For the witch, I printed her twice, colored certain portions with Copics, then cut out and 3D layered the moon, hat, bottom of the broom, one arm, and both boots. You can see the dimension better here:


This card also qualifies for A Spoon Full of Sugar's Halloween challenge.

We'd love for you to play with us! All the details can be found on the Your Next Stamp Challenge Blog. And remember that these digi images are only being sold for a limited time, so if you love them, hurry over to the YNS Store! They can all be found in the Limited Edition section. TFL!

Other materials used: patterned paper - SEI; ribbon - May Arts; charm - eBay.

La-La Land Crafts Blog Hop!

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the La-La Land Crafts Christmas Release Blog Hop! If you started at the La-La Land Crafts blog and came here from Kim's blog, then you're on the right track!

If you are just stopping by and want to join the Blog Hop, then just go to the La-La Land Crafts blog and start your hop there.

To celebrate the release of the fabulous Christmas stamps on October 14th, we are having a fun Blog Hop. Each DT Member and all the Guest DT members will show you a sneak-peek of one of the new Christmas stamps!

What's in it for you???

Besides seeing all the cute peeks of our new images? The winner of the Blog Hop will receive not one but THREE of our new stamps (winner's choice!!) PLUS all of the items in the photo below:


- Spellbinders Shapeabilites Create A Flake 1
- Spellbinders Shapeabilites Pendants Fleur De Lis
- Spellbinders Borderabilites Fleur De Lis
- JustRite A Merry Little Christmas Set
- Basic Grey Holiday Ornaments Chipboard
- Cuttlebug For You Ornament Die Cut and Embossing Folder combo
- Copic Marker Soft Case for 24 Markers
- Three Copic Markers: E11, E33 and B41
- The Paper Company Bordeaux Filigree Accents
- Hero Arts Gemstones

Some of our DT members and the Guest Designers are also offering a little prize, randomly chosen from the entries on their own personal blogs.

What do you have to do to join our Blog Hop????

* Start your Blog Hop at the La-La-Land Crafts blog

* Each DT Member will guide you to the next blog in the Blog Hop

* Final stop is back at the La-La-Land Crafts blog where you have to leave a comment telling us how many different stamps there are in our Christmas Release (it can be tricky, be careful!)

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And now, what you've been waiting for! Here's my sneak peek:


Your next stop is Paul's blog. Have fun and good luck to all of you!

Happy Birthday Karin!!

I'm excited because our Guest DT member at La-La Land Crafts, Karin, is celebrating her birthday today! I made a special card to celebrate the occasion:


I used Fairy Lala and a sketch from Sketch Girl. I colored Lala with Copics, cut her out and popped her up with foam boosters. I paper pieced and popped up her skirt, covered her wings and wand with Stickles for big sparkle, then went over her hair and entire outfit with Stardust glitter pen spread with a waterbrush for a more subtle sparkle. You can see it a little in this shot:


I also added Stickles to all the candle flames, then finished off the card with stitching, May Arts ribbon, and a rub-on sentiment from Basic Grey. All the patterned paper is Basic Grey's Urban Prairie collection.

Karin: if you're reading this - Happy birthday!! I hope you have a most wonderful day!!

World Card Making Day ‘09

Happy World Card Making Day! I hope you're enjoying the tons of fun going on at all the various boards and blogs today!

First up, I have a Your Next Stamp card:


In case you missed it, Your Next Stamp is sponsoring this week's challenge over at The Pink Elephant, which is a recipe challenge: Use something with dots, a punch, and a tag. There's still time to play and two stamp sets up for grabs!!

I used Fairy Fhiona and part of a sentiment from the Happy Days Mermaid set. I stamped Fhiona twice on white cardstock, once on the patterned paper, and once on plain printer paper. I used the printer paper version as a pattern to cut out the wings from Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock (I tried stamping directly on the cardstock but the black lines just didn't look nice at all). I used thick foam tape beneath the wings, curling them slightly so they wouldn't just sit flat. I added an extra set of arms over her pieced dress and an extra head for even more dimension. Here you can see all the layers:



I also threw in some other challenges for good measure:

• Get Sketchy - sketch
• 3 Clovers - use pink
• Charisma Cardz - decoupage (I believe they want paper tole or 3D layering)
• Crazy 4 Challenges - sewing

And now for something really fun: one random commenter from today's post will win a prize of 2 free digi images from YNS! Yes, YNS is going to be carrying digis for a limited time! They will be released on October 7 (which is also the first day of our new challenges!), so I hope you'll check them out! To be entered to win, all you have to do is check out the Your Next Stamp store and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite YNS stamp/stamp set is. This giveaway will be open until Oct. 5th at 12 midnight EST and the winners will be announced on the YNS Blog on Oct. 7. Did you catch that I wrote winnerS? Check out the other Starlets and enter to win their giveaways too! Check the complete list of players on the YNS Blog to make sure you don't miss any!

Also, Karen is giving everyone 10% off their order for today only!! The offer is good until 12 midnight EST. Have fun shopping!

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I'm glad you're still with me! You can also enter to win some candy over at the La-La Land Crafts blog! Be sure to check it out!

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And last, but not least, I wanted to remind you that the Softpencil challenges start today over at Paper Craft Planet. We hope you'll play along!

Whew! Thanks for getting through this looooong post!! Enjoy all the rest of the WCMD activities!

Softpencil Blog Hop!

Hi everybody! To kick off the start of the new Softpencil Challenges, we're having our very first blog hop! If you didn't start at the Softpencil blog, you'll want to go back to get all the details of the hop!

This week the DT got a gorgeous rose image to play with and our design element is watercoloring, which goes perfectly with this image! I had to go with the classic red rose and here's what I came up with:


I bought a very lightweight watercolor paper from my local craft store just so I would be able to print digi images from my printer. I used Peerless watercolors and a waterbrush, using lots of different reds and greens (and then grey for shadows) in layers. Lastly I did a yellow halo around the entire image.

The sketch is from Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge and my card also qualifies for the CCEE Stampers' challenge - "Let's Go Digital!."

In case you get lost along the way, here's the Hop order:

Softpencil Blog
Maureen (you're here!)
Wendy
Cathy
Anne-Katrine
Tracy
Ashley
Kerry
And then back to the Softpencil Blog for a chance to win a prize!

The Softpencil challenges will start on Saturday, October 3 at the Softpencil group at Paper Craft Planet. We hope you'll join us!! I hope you have fun with the rest of the hop and good luck winning a prize!

And now your next stop is the fabulously talented Wendy!