La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge #45

It's time for another La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week our theme was chosen by Kim and is to "Try something new." Kim wrote, "this can be a new technique you have been dying to try but haven't had the time, a new card shape, some handmade embellishments...maybe even altering images if you haven't tried it yet!" Well, I've been stamping a REALLY long time so it took me a while to think up something I haven't tried yet, and then I remembered a background coloring technique that I've seen on a few blogs and decided to go for it! Here's what I came up with:


One of the blogs where I've seen the spotted background is Crissy Armstrong's and she even has a video tutorial on how to do it! It's not exactly how I would have wanted it, but I think it's not bad for a first try! I'll have to practice to get it perfect!

I used Fairy Lala (yes, again! I can't help it - I just love her!) and a sketch from OCC. I paper pieced Lala's dress and colored the rest with Copics, except her wings and wand, which were Stickled. I did the background first then made a mistake coloring her face. Not wanting to do the background over, I just colored another face, cut it out and put it over the first to hide my mistake!

Another new thing I tried this week is the hand-dyed and scrunched seam binding (I also used it on the card posted yesterday). I just cut approximately a yard off the roll, then dampened it and dyed with 2 colors of Distress reinkers, painting the colors in different areas for a variegated look, and scrunching up the ribbon to my liking. I LOVE how it came out and now want to use it on every card I make! I also dyed the Prima hydrangea with the same 2 colors to match the ribbon. I hope you like it!

Before I go, I want to let you know that whatever image the hostess uses on her project is 20% off for the week of the challenge, and this week it's Banjo Maya! And since we have the requirement that you must use a La-La Land Crafts image on your projects to win the $10 credit or Top Three, don't forget that we have all these fabulous digi images available!

We'd love to have you play along with us! All the details can be found on the La-La Land Crafts blog. TFL!

To Risk

Today's card was made for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:

When I first saw the sketch I thought there was no way I could do it, but then an idea popped into my head and here's what I came up with (you can click to enlarge to see all the detail):


The sentiment is called To Risk and is from Verve Stamps. I got out my super old (and discontinued) Mostly Animals stamp positioner (which is a fixed positioner so you can stamp your image multiple times without worrying about it moving) and stamped the sentiment in blush ink, then smeared a little olive ink on parts of the stamp with my finger and stamped again. It might have been easier just to ink my stamp with the 2 different inks at once, but I was worried that the colors would mix and get muddy. I knew doing it in layers this way would keep the colors separate and clean.

The 2 bigger butterfly punches are both Martha Stewart and the tiny one is a Fiskars hand punch. The ribbon is hand-dyed and scrunched seam binding that I've been seeing everywhere and had to try! I love the results so you'll be seeing a lot more of this stuff on my cards from now on, especially since the roll came with 100 yards!! I hope you like it and TFL!

Cupcake Girl

Today's card was made for the Squiggle Stamps monthly challenge which is themed "Birthday Best." Here's what I came up with:


I used Cupcake Girl and a fun sketch from CPS.

I stamped Cupcake Girl and colored her mostly with Copics. Her dress was paper pieced as was the cupcake liner and frosting/cherry. I colored the hearts and ribbon on her dress and also the cherry with a dark Copic marker - you can barely tell there's patterning under those parts! Then I did a tiny bit of highlighting on the cherry with a white pencil and covered it with clear dimensional adhesive for shine. I popped up the bottom of her dress as well as the pieced parts of the cupcake with bits of scrap cardstock. I also stamped, colored and cut out an extra arm to go over the pieced dress and cupcake liner.

If you look really closely at the scalloped piece of patterned paper, you'll see that there are floral parts and dotted parts. I carefully paper pieced her dress so it was completely made out of the floral part, and the frosting on the cupcake was made from the dotted part to look like sprinkles.

Here's a close shot so you can see the detail and dimension better:


I finished off the front with a Quickutz arrow that has a piercing on either end, a bunch of straight and zigzag stitching, and half pearls on the scalloped piece.

I don't always do it, but for this card I decorated the inside as well because there's a surprise for the recipient:


I made a matching cupcake paper clip as a little birthday giftie! I used the cupcake from the stamp as a pattern for my felt cupcake and threw in a bunch of stitching to give it a little more detail. Then I sewed the cupcake and a few layers of base felt to a large paperclip.

Here's a shot of just the clip:


I hope you like it and TFL!

La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge #44

If you're looking for the Your Next Stamp Challenge #19, it's the post directly below this one. Thanks!

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It's time for another La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week our theme was chosen by Jane and is WHITE - white cardstock, designer paper, ribbon, embellishments, etc. If you're not quite sure what we mean, pop on over to the La-La Land Crafts blog and check out all the DT samples - everybody did such a great job with this challenge!

I wanted to go as white as possible and here's what I came up with:


I stamped Easter Dress Rosie in a light purple ink and then colored just certain parts of her with 2 different light purple Copic markers. 2 of the base pieces were embossed with Cuttlebug embossing folders, and the 2 strips were punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I then sewed on some white seed beads and glittered the edges of the purple panel. Finally, I die cut 2 sizes of flowers from felt, and sewed on a button with a piece of silk ribbon which was colored halfway with a purple Copic.

The sketch is from Cute Card Thursday.

Before I go, I want to let you know that whatever image the hostess uses on her project is 20% off for the week of the challenge, and this week it's Happy Maya!

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 #19

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! But before I get to it, I wanted to let you know that a bunch of the YNS stamp sets are being retired so they're on SALE right now, all at 35% off!! Quantities are very limited, so you'll want to hurry over and grab them up while you can!

And now back to the challenge! Our hostess is Amy and she challenged us to use printed/patterned ribbon. Here's my card:


I really loved the hovering bee that I did on this card so I did a similar treatment on today's card. I used Bee Stings (and a sentiment from Mini Greetings) and made a slight change to the acetate piece that holds the bee - I accordion folded it so it springs!

You may remember this card where I put the dog's head on a wire spring to make it bounce around. Well I had a pretty difficult time finding just the right wire and the right object to wrap it around to make a good spring. So I had an idea to make a spring out of the acetate strip instead of wire and it worked!!

Here's a close shot so you can kind of see what it looks like:


I just cut a thin strip of acetate and folded it back and forth a few times. One end was stuck to the back of the bee and the other end was glued under the felt flower. It springs really great - I'm so happy with it! Also, you can smash it down to fit into an envelope, and when it's taken out it will spring right back up! I'm having so much fun flicking it and watching it spring around! =D

I used FTL #95 from the Clean & Simple Stamping blog and this card is also for the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - "cute as a bug."

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! You don't have to use YNS images on your card, but if you do you'll get a double entry in the draw!

Also, the challenge hostess will choose her favorite card, and that winner will get the YNS Challenge "Top Pick" blinkie to proudly display on their blog PLUS $5 in YNS Stamp Bucks! You must use a YNS image to be eligible to be chosen for Top Pick.

Full details can be found at the YNS Challenge Blog. TFL!

thinking of you

Wow - I have a non-DT card for you today!


I used a REALLY old Studio G $1 set and a sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You.

Little details: I used a white gel pen and ruler to make the white border all the way around and partially colored the white silk ribbon with my copic to match the light green in the patterned paper (a tip I got from Nichole Heady's blog).

This card is also for Allsorts - Lace and/or Buttons (I'm not sure if my piece of trim counts as lace, but I definitely do have a button on there!) and PaperPlay - Something old that I never used (this stamp is years old and this is the first time it touched ink!). I hope you like it and TFL!

La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge #43

It's time for another La-La's Weekly Wednesday Challenge! This week I am your hostess and I've chosen the theme of embossing because it's something I normally love to do on cards, but for some reason haven't done lately! Here's what I came up with:


I used the new Beach Lala set and a sketch from Taylored Expressions. In case you can't see it, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the polka dot patterned paper. I like that it gives the paper a more whimsical look and some texture!

Lala was colored with Copics, her ball paper pieced, and then the whole thing cut out and popped up on the focal panel. I added the banner with brads airbrushed to match the cardstock and popped up in the middle with foam boosters. Finally I added a sentiment from the Beach Lala set and some straight stitching.

BTW, in case anybody's wondering about the highlights in her eyes, I normally color over the highlights in the image with a black pen and then dot in my own highlight later with a white gel pen. That way I can get the highlights the size I want and placed where I want them.

This card is also for:

• Cute Card Thursday - Anything But Square
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Summer/Travel
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Enjoying the Sunshine

Before I go, I want to let you know that whatever image the hostess uses on her project is 20% off for the week of the challenge, and this week it's Beach Lala! And since we have a requirement that you must use a La-La Land Crafts image on your projects to win the $10 credit or Top Three, don't forget that we have all these fabulous digi images available!

We'd love to have you play along with us! All the details can be found on the La-La Land Crafts blog. TFL!