And They're Off...

Headed To The Melbourne Cup

It's time for the horse races in Australia where there are going to be an abundance of

 flowers and hats and more flowers and hats and did I mention...

flowers and hats?

Which leads me to the latest challenge at

The Squirrel & The Fox

Ready for it?

Hats or Flowers or Both!

And our wonderful sponsor is

Prize is a AU$15 voucher to spend in the online store. 

Close-up of Summer Dreams

from Make 'It'' Crafty

As well as the Cobblestone Path.

I decided to make this card "Less Is More" because these amazing images 

are really able to tell the story without me adding anything else.

Copic Colors Used

Hat & Dress - B32, 34, 41

Hair - E13, 34 and Y23

Skin - E003, E30 and R20

Shoes - C0,06

Flowers & Ribbon - Y02, 08, 13

Thanks so much for stopping in and I hope today finds you happy, healthy and creative!

I would also like to say a very warm welcome to the newest talented blog buddy followers.  Thank you so much for allowing me to be so inspired by you as well!!

Lisa xx

Be sure to check out 

The Squirrel & The Fox

Flowers Or Hats Challenge!

Party 'Til The Cows Come Home?

What Happens On The Farm,

Stays On The Farm

Welcome back to another challenge at

This week we are keeping in theme with the holiday of Halloween

and our challenge is...

TRICK OR TREAT

And our ever gracious sponsors

Offering

1 prize of 5 digi stamps of your choice

and 

Who is offering our featured tipper an amazing book!

Spooky Critters

These animals are a compilation of Stampin' Up! stamps that I altered for 

Trick or Treating.

The (Boo Moo) cow and (Purple Tutu) pig are from Very Punny

and the (Dracula) duck, (Zoro) squirrel and (Ghost) rabbit are from Animal Crackers.

Driving the Herd

This little witch is also from Stampin' Up's set, Tag Time.

The clouds and bats are hand drawn and the tree stamp is from Rosie's Roadshow

Trick Or Treating In a Truck

The road is actually a window ledge from the stamp set, Beautiful Day, by There She Goes.

The hills are just torn white card stock that I've layered on to card base.

The truck and pumpkins are from Stampin' Up! Loads of Love and Loads of Love Accessories

Rocks and grass sprigs are also from Rosie's Roadshow.

I've colored everything with Copic markers, 

but was having so much fun, I forgot to write them all down.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit and are inspired to join us at

Top Tip Tuesday

for our 

Trick or Treat Challenge!!

Thanks so much for stopping in and

Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx

Challenges I would like to enter:

Divas by Design - #13; Something Spooky (Animal Trick or Treaters. Pig in a Tutu is kinda scary!)

Whimsical Wednesdays - Halloween (I hope this card counts as a home decor)

The Paper Shelter - #36 Harvest (Fall colors and delivering pumpkins in a truck)

Crafting For All Seasons - #12; Halloween Challenge

Blue Christmas Without You...

Unconventional Christmas Card Colors

Here is my DT card for another challenge at

Make It Monday

Where the DT's have feverishly been working, like elves in Santa's workshop, to create amazing projects for your inspiration!

And our gracious sponsor this week is none other than...

With a prize of a £10 voucher 

We can't wait to see what wonderful paper creations you make that we can drool over!

Close Up of Crocheted Flower

Was a little melancholy today when I was making this card since the kids and I won't be able to

spend the holidays with their dad this year.  Decided that I would make blue the primary color for this card.  

(Brief Intermission For a Little Love Note)

"Since I know you, my husband, read this blog from overseas, I just wanted you to know that even though we can't be together for the holidays, you are ALWAYS with us in our hearts and on Skype, thank God for Skype. We are SO proud of you and realize that you are making the bigger sacrifice.  We LOVE  you so much and can't wait for you to come home. 

Next Christmas I won't ask Santa for anything ('cept maybe a new stamp set, but only one and possibly a gift card to Hobby Lobby, but that's it, or a few new Tim Holtz products, but other than that, nothin' else,) because I'll already have the best gift ever...

YOU!"

and that's the truth!

(End of Brief Intermission)

Back to my card...

The DP is unusual, but it's a lovely design with acorns from Stampin' Up!

The snowflake is red felt that I've covered in Versamark and heat embossed with silver powder.

Crocheted the flowers out of baking twine and added an antique button sprinkled with a dusting of

Duo Blue-Green Pearl X.  

Adhered them all together with a hot glue gun.

Tags were edged with Mellow Moss and the sentiment is from the new Stampin' Up! Petite Pairs stamp set.

Additional felt snowflake added with gold stickles.

The basic rhinestones are colored with Copics B34

The white and gold winter wonderland ribbon is from Celebrating With Ribbons.

Golden Mesh is also behind the Snowflake and fans out for a bit more flare.

Variety of blues seen here

That's it for this card.

Now onto...

PICK OF THE WEEK

(and may I just say...CRIPES...this never gets any easier!)

This totally UNIQUE card really caught my eye.
Love the creative shape, the message and the waaaay out of the box thinking!
Nicely done Hannelie at
Desert Diva

Phew...all done now.

Happy stamping...

Lisa xx

Dream Home On A Rope...

Log Cabin Milk Carton #7

I created the carton this morning based on my inspiration from Linda's 

EVER WONDERFUL and INSPIRATIONAL 

12 Tags Of Christmas Challenge.

Here is Linda's tag #7

at 

The Funkie Junkie

As soon as I saw this tag, I felt like I was looking out a window into the snow covered woods.

Then I thought, if I was looking out a window, what would the house look like?

Well, it would look like my dream home...a log cabin!

Here's how I assembled this challenge.

Make the milk carton frame

Punch a 1.5"x 1.5" square out of cardstock

Place cardstock onto the carton where you want the windows and using an X-ACTO Knife,

cut out each window.

Using the same cardstock as the house, cut thin strips of paper to make the widow separations 

and adhere them to the backside of the carton.

The days before a Big Shot

I did replace my BigShot recently, but I had to use something unused or not used in a very long time for ABC Christmas Challenge ,so...

I took my Fiskar wood grain texture plate and the little Fiskar impessions tool, which I haven't used in eons, and hand embossed the outside of the carton.

Using Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!) and White Pigment Ink (CTMH),

stained the exterior of the house.

I took a strip of acetate and cut 2" x "2 squares and placed them over the window slats to make "glass."

Next I applied 3D foam above and below the window.

Once I had googled, "Log Cabin Christmas" I set the images to measure 2" x 2"

and then laid them onto the sticky foam.

Here is the result

Assembled Log Cabin Home

Each window peeks into a Christmas living room

Window A

Window B

 Window C

 Window D

The windows looked adorable, but they needed a pop of color so I made 8 red Dutch Shutters and scored each one for definition and drew on the hinges, handles and accessories and then "weather proofed" them with Close to Cocoa stain as well.

Because Linda's tag has snowflakes and pine cones,

I recreated my impression of snow with Acrylic Dimensional Writer and  the trees draping around the window with faux moss; also accented with "snow."

Well, that's my lengthy but hopefully inspirational holiday post.

Hope you've enjoyed it.

Thank you SO much for stopping in to visit and

Happy Stamping to you...

Lisa xx

Challenges I would like to enter:

The Funkie Junkie - 12 Tags Of Christmas #7

ABC Christmas - U is for Unused Stash (Fiskar Woodgrain texture kit)

Jingle Belles - Christmas; Soft & Cozy (Gentle snow and warm fire and tree lights)

Silhouetted Pumpkin Avenue

Pop Up Pumpkin Patch

I created this for Top Tip Tuesday's challenge

LAYER IT UP

&

Bettina's Pop Up Card Tutorial

Sponsored by

1 stamp of your choice & a goodie bag!

&

$10 Store Voucher

Stitchy Bear's very own Pumpkin Avenue

Side view of pop up card

Supplies Used:

Polka dot ribbon was recycled from an old gift bag

Plaid bow is a strip of scrap material gathered in the center and an orange gem added for accent

Silhouette cat, raven on a branch and b&w pumpkins from PC clipart

Fence Post punch from Fiskar

I added 7 orange gems to balance the color of the image and then glued moss down around the pumpkins for more layering.

Image was colored with Derwent Watercolor Pencils

Thanks for stopping by :D

Lisa xx

Triple Window Wonderland...

Vintage Christmas

Welcome back to another

Make It Monday Challenge

Our sponsor for this weeks challenge is

Who is offering the winner a ...

£10 Gift Voucher!! 

My DT card for Make It Monday

This image is from SU! Greeting Card Kids

I center creased each layer as well as the image, applied a tiny bit of adhesive and then sewed her onto the last layer.

The white flowers were altered with Derwent Watercolor Pencils and the pearls were colored with Copic marker R27.

Here is the link if you'd like to see where I got my inspiration and directions.

The directions are wonderful but I altered them a bit by measuring the space needed for the main image and then making each additional window opening approximately 1/4" wider as I progressed to the top layer.

Chia's Rubber Stamp Art

This is always the most fun, but the hardest thing to do...

Kudos to ALL the amazing crafters who submitted entries last week...

You are ALWAYS an inspiration to me.

But alas, I must only pick one, so here it is.

PICK OF THE WEEK

Red Geisha from Jan's Crafty Spot

I loved the stenciled tree and the pop of color only on the Geisha and the CAS frame of the card, yet elegant all at the same time.  

Nicely done, Jan!

Thank you so much for stopping in for a visit.
I love your comments and encouragement and always the laughs!
Happy stamping...
Lisa xx

Challenges I would like to enter:
Crazy 4 Challenges - C4C109; Upcoming Holiday
Polka Doodles -  #41; Ribbons and Bows

Jimmy Stewart Meets My Milk Carton

This is my second post for the day,

but if you missed my tutorial on how to 

destroy your iron in 3 easy steps,

in conjunction with my The Squirrel & The Fox Post,

click here.

This IS a WONDERFUL Life

My 6th milk carton for Linda's ever inspirational

12 Tags of Christmas Challenge

at the

Funkie Junkie

Here is her outstanding tag...

I love absolutely everything about this tag, but the challenge is to draw inspiration from certain items and then create your own (whatever you want to make) project, based on what you chose from her tag.

I focused on the angel and the doily and the tag shape.

My favorite Christmas movie is 

It's a Wonderful Life,

and decided to incorporate the angel from the movie into my milk carton.

Clarence, The Wingless Angel and George

I copied pictures from film clips of the movie and used the photo editing application, Paint,

 to place them into this clipart picture of a 1940's television set.

Then cut out wings from a Tattoo website and placed them on either side of the TV and

lastly adding a bell between the wings with 3 little tags.

Since the movie is a black and white production, my intention was to stay with that same theme for embellishments.  I included a black scalloped square and a white doily square beneath the TV. 

The black scallop has 3 diamond gems; representing the need for us to shine, even in the darkest of times and the white doily has a letter on each side.  All four sides spell out W-I-N-G.

 The Famous Movie Quote

3 Little Tags

Even though Clarence, the wingless angel, shows George what the world would be like if he was never born, I used the tags to represent the "past, present and future" events that Clarence reveals to George Bailey and how he alone had, does and will touch people's lives in a positive way.

I used Stampin' Up! paper to make the carton 

 Scrap cardstock for the embellishments

Glossy Accents applied to the TV screen for a glassy shimmer

If you're still with me on this post,

Thank you SO much for dropping in.

I hope you're having a wonderful and creative day!

Lisa xx

Challenges I would like to enter:

The Funkie Junkie - 12 Tags of Christmas (week 6)