Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge


Cardstock: Red/Pink card & envelope set, Bazzill Bling Black Tie, SU Whisper White & Bordering Blue (I think!)
Ink: SU Basic Black
Embellishments: Making Memories Love Story Ribbon, Sweets
& Mini Brad Value Pack

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge for this week is this layout but you had to make it a masculine Valentine card...I don't do masculine normally so this really WAS a challenge for me! I like how it turned out though :) I love love LOVE that ribbon! Not sure if it's really masculine though! But I tried!

Monday, January 28, 2008

Punch Storage Solution



FINALLY! I have my punches off of my desk! I Googled 'Craft Punch Storage' and came across the idea of using towel rails!! BRILLIANT! Only one problem, I only had about 16" to play with and most are 21"w or bigger. Anyway I found some smaller ones at Ikea (link to product) and guess what! They were only $4.99 AND they came with a shelf and some extra bits too - a cool idea AND a bargain, I was in heaven! So as you can see I have my punches on the towel rails and of course I made sure I had room for more ;) The Shelves are on the right near the window and are doing a fabulous job of holding all my everyday goodies. This all started because I wanted to get at my Cricut and it was always buried under stuff but now it has pride of place but is not in the way because it is sat on top of a shelf which is normally used at the back of your kitchen sink! Genius! Anyway, just thought I would share.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Princess!

Stamps: LAD Once Upon a Time & So Swirly
Ink: SU Forest Foliage & Basic Black
Embellishments: Ribbon - May Arts & Heidi Swap Bling

Oh here she is again! I Love this Princess. The bling is just the right amount of sparkle she deserved :) I've been having a good sort out of my crafting area (again!) and found some really neat shelves in Ikea (available online too) that I was able to store my punches on and it also came with shelves too...SO reasonable priced - I love a bargain! I will put a photo of it all tomorrow, I have a few bit to finish off. Hope you had a lovely weekend :)

Thursday, January 24, 2008

NEW LIGHT BOX!

Cardstock: SU, Ink: SU
Ribbon: May Arts
Tools used: SU Oval Punch
Embellishments: Making Memories small circle clips

I got my new light box today! I am SO thrilled! I have been playing with it a bit, still need to figure out which buttons on my camera will help out the lighting, I think I have it sussed though :) Hmmm, maybe it's still a bit bright! I took the photo of this card using my light box and the fairy one below was using my flash (no light box for that one) I can tell the difference can you? I got 3 rooms in my house organized yesterday which is quite an achievement, I am hoping to get a couple more done today. Happy Thursday everyone :D

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

My Hearts a Flutter


Stamps: Lizzie Anne's Simply Single Fairy & L'Amour set
Cardstock: Red cards & Envelope set & Basic Grey GYPSY 6x6 Paper Pad
Ink: SU Markers & SU Basic Black & Real Red
Embellishments: Making Memories Pebble Clips & Diamond Stickles

Ooooooh LOVE this card! It turned out so nice - even if I do say so myself ;) I am so in love with this fairy stamp! I am having one of those days when everything goes wrong, like when you crack an egg open and somehow it ends up on the floor!! (yes it actually happened!) it doesn't help that my house is in such turmoil! I have been trying to get organized which ultimately means that the house gets trashed! It's driving me nuts!
On a brighter note my lovely precious friend Bridget has been kind enough to let us have her beautiful Roland digital intelligent piano on a semi-permanent loan :) THANKS BRIDGET! You made my day...now I just have to find somewhere to put the old keyboard, my daughter had tears in her eyes when we said we might sell it - bless her. So we are going to put it away for a while. Tomorrow is a new day, lets hope I have the umph to climb out of my mess!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Wedding Wishes

Well after all that Blog Candy excitement (a great big THANK YOU to everyone who took part) I am now getting back into making cards :) This one is very simple (not like me!) but I saw this crimped technique in a magazine and just HAD to try it! My photo isn't brilliant but I am happy to announce that they should get better pretty soon, yes I caved and have bought a little portable light studio - in fact it was Lizzie (of Lizzie Anne Designs Stamps) that spurred me on, she showed me a picture of the one she had just purchased and so I drooled for a few days before I bought my own...I have ZERO will power! She's such a tease!
It's not long now until I go to CHA with Lizzie Anne Designs to help them at their booth. I am SO excited. I helped out last year when they were newbies and had a LOT of fun, I only stayed 2 nights that time though, this time I'm going for 6 nights!!! All I can say is that I am very thankful that it is SO close to Disney too...work hard and play hard...that's my plan ;)

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.........

....and the winner is.....NUMBER 23 Becky! Congratulations! My daughter had a lot of fun choosing a random number, she felt VERY important :) Becky please email me at Zee@StampnSparkle.com with your address so that I can get your fabulous Lizzie Anne set out to you ASAP! I think you chose Petite Phrases. Let me know if you have changed your mind or if you would still like the same one.
I enjoyed this SO much I will be doing another one in a couple of months with a different question so keep coming back and checking :D
Thank you to everyone who took part and gave me GOOD ideas on where to get some inspiration. It's nice to see how many people pass by my blog! 49 comments, I was AMAZED!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

BLOG CANDY!

Okay so I am celebrating reaching 4,000 hits!!! WOO HOO! (it's at 3,993 as I am writing this) My blog was born September 13th and I had NO idea what I was doing. My fabulous friend Tricia (Lizzie) took the time to show me the ropes...Love ya Tricia! I have met some wonderful ladies through my blog. Marlou was my first regular visitor, thanks to everyone who visits my blog often...you will now have a chance to win some Blog Candy!
As you may notice my blog contains 98% of cards which have Lizzie Anne Designs Stamp on them - I love Lizzie Anne Designs SO much I decided to use one of their sets as my Candy. Now instead of telling you which one you will win I thought I would let YOU decide which one you would like to receive. To win the Candy all you have to do is answer this question...
Where do you get your inspiration for your cards/scrapbook pages from? I would also LOVE to know what your favourite product or embellishment is right now. Don't forget to mention which Lizzie Anne set you would like (click here to see your choices) and also number your replies. I will get my daughter to pick a number from a hat on Monday 21st Jan! GOOD LUCK!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

In the Valentine's mood!


Stamps: Lizzie Anne L'amour set
Cardstock: Paper Accents Card & Envelope set
Embellishments: Making Memories Heart brads, Love Story Trim and Sweets


We have BEAUTIFUL sunshine here today...along with some snow of course! The schools are running 2 hours late so my daughters and their friend are having fun sledding. I have been having fun playing with my new Valentine goodies from Making Memories, they outdid themselves this year I think! I'm quite impressed. So impressed I have ordered more ;)
Please feel free to share your latest and greatest embellishments/tools. I'm normally a little behind on what's hot and would love to know what you are all playing with right now :)

Monday, January 14, 2008

NEW Valentine's items


No new card to post yet today...I have been busy busy making sure I get all my new stock on my eBay site.

Check out my newly listed items! I have added a Valentine's Category to make it easier to shop :) My shipping is FAST! I go to the post offive EVERY DAY!




Saturday, January 12, 2008

Dreaming of Dots

I have to give credit where credit is due, I took this idea from the Stampin Up catalogue...HOW CUTE! I used Lizzie Anne Designs Dreaming of Dots and the sentiment is from their Heart to Heart set. The background hugs and kisses are from their L'amour set. I used SU markers to colour in the flowers and the pink flower is part of the making memories Noteworthy jar...oh my goodness that jar is FULL of cuteness. Tricia brought it to our card making night last night and I was drooling all over it! I will be stocking them in my store and the best thing is they match the Noteworthy ribbons I already have there. The photo isn't very good as we have zero light today...VERY overcast and dark here!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Spot the difference!




Okay so this is what I have been doing today...Playing with my camera. A friend of mine mentioned in passing that I needed to play with the White Balance, hmmm, I had no idea what that meant but her cards look FAB (I'm talking about Lizzie of course). So I have been searching the internet trying to find tips on this very subject and found this place - Digital Photography School - I thought I would share my findings as it helped me SO much. Of course I love anything that describes things visually. So I got my manual out and found which buttons I needed to press and voila...what do you think? The one on the right is obviously the one with the White Balance adjusted. I did the manual - show the camera a white piece of paper and then take the picture. I'm quite happy with it. It's much better than the one on the left which was taken in a white washing up bowl with an Ott-lite shining at it!


Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Lizzie Anne Design Challenge


Here is my card based on the Lizzie Anne Design challenge this week. They gave me a great template to work with (I love being given templates!) I used Lizzie Anne Design's NEW Ballerina and Ballerina saying stamps and also the flowers from the In the Background set. I used my SU markers to colour it all in and a Giga Scalloped Circle punch although I think the Mega may have been big enough! I added Star Dust sparkles to complete her fabulousness...got to have some glitter! (Apologies on the photo, I'm still trying to figure out my new camera Nikon DX40, might have to get one of those light boxes!) ANY TIPS ARE VERY WELCOME!

Lizzie Anne Designs new set NOW IN STOCK!!


Oh my! Lizzie Anne Designs have definitely outdone themselves this time! They have released a bunch of new sets and singles and they are Out of This World!!!!!! I NEED THEM ALL!! I now have them in my eBay store. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! I ship all around the world and if you don't see the one you want let me know...I live about half a mile away from Lizzie herself so I am able to get my orders FAST ;) (location, location, location)




I already own the Once Upon a Time set and I think my next set may be Dreaming of Dots although I really do like their new Petite phrases...SO cute! No I think In the Treetop may be my next purchase, I love the 2 step stamping! Oh it's SO hard to choose! I wish it was my birthday. Keep posted as I will be giving away my first BLOG CANDY. Details coming soon :D

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Princess

I am LOVING this Once Upon a Time set, I have a use for ALL the cards I have made so far with it! I will have some in stock to sell at my eBay store first thing tomorrow morning :D
Here's what I used...
Patterned paper - from the DCWV Christmas Glitter Stack
SU Markers - Real Red, Positively Pink & Chocolate chip
Ribbon - SU Turquoise grosgrain
Punches - Marvy Super Jumbo Circle, Mega Circle and Giga Scallop circle.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Once upon a time...


...there was a beautiful princess. Lizzie Anne Designs are releasing their BRAND NEW sets VERY soon and to top that they are giving sneak peeks before they are even available to buy. I am lucky enough to be on their design team so I got my hands on this outstanding set early! I can see me having a LOT of fun with this set. I have very girly girls and my eldest daughter LOVES dragons and this set has a cute waving dragon in it!

Waving Dragon!

This has to be the cutest dragon I have EVER seen! Oh my! My eldest daughter is overjoyed with this 'cool' dragon and can't wait to get her hands on the set (nope, I haven't let her yet). This is Lizzie Anne Designs new Once Upon a Time set which is being released next week! I'm sure I will be posting many more cards using this set so come back soon!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!


We had a New Years Eve party at my house last night and boy did we have fun. As you can see we had a chocolate fountain, it didn't work but who cares it's melted chocolate!!! My friend Bridget is in this photo she's the culprit that brought the HUGE tub of cream puffs!! That's me eating my completely covered strawberries and angel food cake.


Here I am singing with my good friend Tricia (Lizzie of Lizzie Anne Designs). I think we were singing Erasure. We were doing battle and I think she won, my daughter Chloe turned to us though and said "No, you are both winners" bless her. Her glass is ALWAYS half full.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE.