The Greeting Farm- FFF Challenge -Make it Sparkle

Hi guys,

     Can you believe that Thanksgiving for the States is this week?  That means only 4 weeks until Christmas.  That means I really need to get my Christmas cards all finished and in the mail ASAP!

     So, with that in my head I decided this weekend to do just that.  If you follow me on InstaGram or on my YouTube channel you know that is what I was doing on both Friday and Saturday.  Well, what no one knows is the fact that I got up this  morning to great disbelief!!!  Boy did I ever!!!

     You see, when I headed to bed Saturday night I had cleaned my desk and stacked up all the cards I had completed on the corner of my desk with the idea that I would get up early and film a YouTube video of all the cards I had completed and go over some of the ideas that I used to make each card.  Sounded like a fantastic idea to me.  It might even have worked out if I didn't have two knotty little kittens that like to play around on my desk in the early morning hours.  :O(...   

     You see those knotty little kittens had gotten on my desk at some point and somehow they managed to spill my big bottle of Various ink refill for my Copic markers all over my cards!  Not just one card, but all over five of them and a brand new 6x6 paper pad that I had yet to use.  It was new to me as I had bought it off of Peachy Cheap in the fall with the anticipation of using it Sunday to make a few more cards.

      I don't know how they managed to get the lid off of the bottle, it must have just hit the desk the perfect way to jar if off.  It then seeped into all the cards, (You can just imagine what those cards looked like at this point.)   I tell you I felt like it was a massacre.  The only difference was that  my unsuspecting cards had become the untimely victims of this crime scene.    
      So with that very long explanation let me get to the one card I did manage to make after all the carnage.  I really love how it turned out and unfortunately it was all I had left in me to make. I had already made a similar card out of the very last of a blue and gray 6x6 pad that I had, so it was very upsetting to remake this card. I loved the idea of the card, so I did redo it and I do like how this one turned out, but I don't even have one picture of any of the other cards to share.
     I do want to enter this in The Greeting Farm-FFF Challenge for this week-Make it Sparkle. 

Ok,  I will quite complaining and wish you all the best.  I hope you have a fantastic start to your week. Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

Supplies:
stamps-Sparkling Seasons-TGF
dp-Wonder-Authentique
cs-Scarlet Jewell-PTI & watercolor paper-Canson- shiny silver from my stash
dies-standard circles-small-Spellbinders & ornament top-TSOL
glitter-Donna Salizar-fairy dust glitter-Clearsnap

FFF-The Greeting Farm ...

Hi guys.
     Wow, can you believe that tomorrow is Thursday already?  I have had a SUPER busy week and I am just shocked at how fast it has flown by.  :O)
     Even with it being a busy week I still wanted to play along in the Farm Fresh Friday Challenge over at The Greeting Farm once again. It is just so much fun and it really does make me come up with some new ideas.  As I am sure you all know the challenge this week is to make a Holiday Card.  I knew that I didn't really have as much time as I would like to use one of my adorable image stamps, so I decided to play around a little bit with my sentiment stamps that I have had for quite a long time now.  I just love to find a new way to use a stamp that I wouldn't have normally used it for.
     So, with all that being said, I grabbed this Martha Stewart mat pad stack that I picked up at our Joann Store for an awesome price of $1.99 after all my coupons.  (Have I mentioned how much I am loving the fact that we finally have a craft store in our little town?  OH YES I AM!!!) I then stamped my sentiment and added the overlay on top for the front of my card and used a second overlay to mat my inside sentiment on.  Very very simple, and now my usual style of card.  However I have to admit that I am really pleased with how it turned out and it only took my about 15 minutes to make.  This week for me that equals a win/ win...
     Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you are all having a wonderful week.
Hugs Lisa G

Supplies:
stamps-Holiday Blessings & Sparkling Season-TGF
cs-Water Color Paper-Canson & Riding Hood Red-Stampin Up
ink-Tuxedo Black-Memento
Multi Medium Matte-to glue the clear overlay to the front of my card.

A simple card without any stamps!

Hi guys!

     I hope you are all having a great weekend.  Sorry that I didn't get back to my blog until today. It was a very busy week for me, and this is the first moment I have had to sit down at my desk.  :O)
     So, first of all  I have some awesome news to share.  I just found out that I won the FFF Challenge over on The Greeting Farm blog from last week and I am SO HAPPY!  I had a great time making that card and even though I know it is picked by random I am still happy to know that I will be getting a brand new Greeting Farm stamp!  You all know that is my favorite company for red rubber stamps and since I haven't been able to spend a lot on crafty stuff lately that makes it all the better.  lol...
     I also found out the the local 'Made in our town store' would like for me to sell my cards there.   I am wondering what you guys would do.  They will let me price my cards how I think they should be priced and I also get to set them up for display as well as package them how I see fit.  The thing is, they will take 35% from each card they sell.  What do you think?  If it were your cards, would you do it?  Is that a fair price, and what do you sell your cards for?   I would greatly appreciate any and all comments or advice you can give me on this.
      Ok, let's get to my card for today.  Last week I decided to make this card to show that not only can you use what you have, you can also make some pretty nice looking cards without using a single stamp.  That also brings me to my friend on YouTube "Hi Carole", she is One Happy Crafty Chic on YouTube and she made some adorable cards using her scraps.  Yes, it can be done.  Check out Carol and her channel here.  I know you will enjoy her.
     Well Carole, here is my card made from Scraps. You can not believe how long I have had these leftover pieces from this paper pad.  lol... I did put in a little bit more time on this, but only because I wanted to use Glossy Accents on it and of course I had to wait for it to dry.  heehee
     So, if your in a pinch and you just know you have to have that new stamp set to make that perfect card. Remember chances are really good that you already own something just as cute. So, be sure to check out your scrap bin.  You just might remember all those wonderful papers that you already loved and still have a bit of.
     Thanks everyone for all your sweet comments.  It always makes my day.
Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

The bottom of the bulbs are shinny from the Glossy Accents, but for some reason the shine looks weird in my picture.  Sorry!

Sentiment cut from the paper pad. Makes my life easier. 

In person the Christmas Ornaments match the cardstock perfectly.
I think my flash played tricks on the colors. :O(...

I used my score board to make the lines in the
top part of the hangers to make it look more textured.
So much fun to do. 

Supplies:
stamps-NONE!!!
cs-Scarlet Jewel-PTI
dp-25 Days of Christmas 2011-Simple Stories
dies-ornaments4christmas-TSOL-You could use a circle punch or die to get the same effect!
twine-bits & pieces from stash
pearl dots-stash
ink-Chestnut Roan-Colorbox
Wink of Stella-clear
Glossy Accents-Ranger

 

FFF Challenge on The Greeting Farm blog...

Hi guys,
     I promised to share with you all my finished card using Beanie Ian and I finally finished it.  lol...
Sorry it took me so long to get my card finished today.  We all wanted to finish up the last three episodes of season 4 of The Walking Dead.  :O)  Usually this would so not be something I would watch, but as Andrew Lincoln is one of the main characters in it and I just LOVE anything he plays so of course I do not miss a chance to watch. lol

     So, let's get to the reason you are here.  That would be my card for today.  I was in the process of organizing my stamps this past week and I came across Beanie Ian and I could not believe that I had yet to ink him up.  I knew right away what paper pad I wanted to use with him, but I wasn't too sure what kind of card I wanted to put him on.  I really didn't want to go with a Christmas card for him as I wanted to play around with the idea that he didn't have to be only for Christmas or winters.
     Of course when I'm not too sure what direction I want to go I will head over to The Greeting Farm Blog and see what challenges they have going on.  I was very happy to see that this week's Farm Fresh Friday challenge is non other than a 'Thanks or Thankful' card!  I have a very special 'Thank You' card that I need to make and this is just the perfect time to make it.  :O)
     As you might be able to tell I pulled out a lot of old products that I have been hording to make this card.  I have a ton of the gem swirls that over a year ago I had to have and I still haven't touched.  I also have a few different kinds of embossing powders that I have but tend to not use too often as I really don't like the chance of a mess on my desk or pulling out my embossing gun.  I also used some brown pigment ink that I never use as I tend to go with black for all of my sentiments.  Yep, I am very happy with myself on this card and with how it turned out as well.
     If you haven't checked it out, or if you just haven't thought about playing in a while check out The Greeting Farm blog and play along with the FFF Challenge.  I know you'll have fun.
     Have a wonderful week everyone.  I have a card for tomorrow that I made with no stamps at all.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
Hugs Lisa G
   

Supplies:
stamps-Beanie Ian & Fur-Ever-TGF  and Thanks4oneyear-TSOL
cs-Mixed Media white paper 80lb-Stampendous
dp-signature Christmas by Jen Wilson-MME
corrugated card-Recollections
gem & pearl spray-stash
shear ribbon-Offray
inks-Tuxedo Black-Memento & Chestnut-AC
misc. embossing powders
edge distresser-heidi swapp
Copic Markers

Trying something NEW!!!

Hi guys.
      Wow, did everyone have a great Monday or what?  lol... Mine was SUPER BUSY at work, but when I got home and I read all of  sweet comments from the  LBBS clear stamp blog hop it just made my day.  I really want to say "THANKS so much!"  and "WELCOME to my new subscribers"  I am very happy to have you all and I have even picked up on my crafty mojo all because of you guys. :O)
     You have really inspired me to get crafty.  So much so that I finally pulled out the new embossing folders that I purchased last week at Joann Fabrics when they had all of their 'Darice'  folders on sale for $2.00.  Yep, I just had to take advantage of that sale.
     I have always loved embossing folders, but I really tend to only use them as backgrounds for my cards. So, as I said in my post title I decided that I wanted to play a little bit with a couple of the new folders I picked up.  I embossed this Christmas tree, and then I grabbed my Memento stamp pads a big block and my water color brush and went to town on making this embossed tree look like it was water colored.
      I'm not sure you can really see it in my pictures, but once I added some gems from my stash and a bit on baby blue 'Stickles' to make for a festive garland I have to admit that I am SO VERY HAPPY with how this card turned out.  HUGE SMILE HERE!!!
     I am so excited with this card that I had to take a couple of pictures and share with you all and I haven't even made an inside to my card yet.  lol.... Those of you that know me and my blog know that I almost always have to have and inside to my cards.  I had so much fun making this one and seeing it come to life that I now I really can't wait for our yearly trip to the big city so that I can pick up a set of those water color pallets that everyone has been getting at Michaels. Those are so going on my wish list!
     I sure hope you are all having a great week so far. If you are kind of in a slump with your crafting I totally encourage you to try something that you just didn't think was your thing.  You never know, you just might LOVE it!
     Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G
   

I was really trying to show how it looks in person. The gems kind of twinkle in the light and
it makes it look like both Christmas tree ornaments and lights. 

Embossing folder and the ink pads that I used to get my colors. I really love how the embossing folder has a boarder so that I could use it to both cut the tree out and frame it. 

   
     Supplies:
cs-Neenah Natural White & Foundations-Coredinations Pearls
embossing folder-Christmas Tree-Darice
stamp-Winter in the Park-LF
gems-doodlebug designs,inc & Kaiserkraft
inks-Memento (see picture for all the colors) & Onyx Black-Versafine
   
   

NAUGHTY OR NICE

Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a great Halloween if you celebrate it.  Can you believe that it is already November?  So, because it is November that means it is that time again for some new releases from Little Blue Button Stamps!

     Little Blue Button Stamps now has CLEAR (photopolymer) stamps!  Yes, you read correctly. LBBS now has some great clear stamps and in order to share in this fun lease LBBS  is having a blog party!
     You can check out all the details HERE!   However before you head over I have one of the new stamps to share with you all.  This set is called 'Charlie with gifts' and I think this set is the PERFECT set to kick off my holiday cards for this year!  Because I wanted to play off of the naughty or nice stamp I pulled some bling from my stash to make it look like this cutie  has a ton of diamonds.  :O)  Just having fun with it.  You'll notice that the bling is marking the 'Not Sure' part of the stamp.  After all it's up to Santa on that.  lol...
     Ok, because it is a blog hop/party I won't keep you any longer.  Be sure to leave comments along your way for your chance to win.  Have a great time.  I know you will enjoy all the wonderful projects that the rest of the DT have put together for you all.
     Talk at you later.
Hugs Lisa G

Supplies:
stamps-Charlie with Gifts-LBBS & Ornaments4Christmas-TSOF
cs-Neenha solor white & Bazzill
bling-Vivamerica-stash
ink-Tuxedo Black-Memento & Onxy Black-Versafine with VersaMark
embossing powder-clear-Hero Arts
embossing folder-pinking stitches-Cricut cuttlebug
dies-stitched rectangles-Lil'inker Designs
Wink Of Stella
Copic Markers