Make, Bake and Take...

Recycling is so much fun! Not only are you helping mother earth, but you sure can create some very unique and personalized gifts with them.  This is a picture heavy post, so I'll just explain that the challenge happening over at Top Tip Tuesday is to recycle with something you might otherwise throw away or contribute to the recycling center.
 Here is my DT project  

I thought it would be fun to make a table setting specific to the image that I was so graciously allowed to use from Bugaboo titled JJ Baking.  I've designed here a table runner,placemat, decorated jar to use for centerpiece or whatever, name placard for sitting arrangement and a napkin holder.

Recycled items I've used are Alfredo jar, 2011 calendar, cereal box, freezer paper, soda can and mesh bag for oranges.

Recycled Alfredo Sauce Jar

Recycled Cereal Box

 

 

 

 So STOP! Don't throw that away and make something REALLY cool and useful with it. 

 

Top Tip Tuesday

Challenge Theme:  RECYCLE IT!

 

Thank you also to our extremely generous sponsors:  Bugaboo Stamps (7 digis of your choice) and Ooh La La Creations (1 of their CDs)

 

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx

 

Challenges I would love to enter this into:

ABAC - Anything Goes

 



Shadow Box Ornament Card

 Mother nature is being so fickle at the moment. The last four months were arid like the Sahara, the past few days have been a monsoon and then a little teaser of cool weather, but oh no....don't get excited, it's back to blistering, no...wait...now it's freezing.
  I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar!  But one thing I'm certain of, the challenge happening over at Squigglefly where we want to see POLKA DOTS!   Dots, dots n' spots. You got 'em? Then hand 'em over...we can't wait to see what you dream up. 
Here's the card I designed in between running to grab my parka and then speed changing into a swimsuit and then back to bundling up in my snuggie. 

This is a polka dotted shadow box card; which technically, I think is supposed to house the image in the back of the card, but I wanted you to be able to see the detail of  Lynne Stansbery's Ornament 4, so I've suspended it from the front, leaving only a true shadow in the back.  The Christmas floral and berry arrangement are mostly from Tim Holtz's Festive Greenery Die and a MS snowflake punch.

Ornament was colored in Derwent Watercolor pencils, highlighted with dots of stickles and ribbon glazed in clear accents.  

 

Please join us for some Dot fun at Squigglefly!
And while you're there, stop in and say hi to the wonderful DT and our new artist to the team Keith Williams. 

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx



Zero to 60 in....

I lassoed, hog-tied and duct tapped it, but somehow the weekend eluded me and here we are again at Monday!  If not for two things, I'd still be drooling on my pillow.  The smell of coffee and the anticipation of kicking off another linky party at Make It Monday, bolted me right out of bed!

Thanks so much for the amazing support of everyone who participated in last weeks party, I had the best time seeing all of your entries.

So, what goes 0 to 60 in stupid-seconds?  Hummingbirds! What used to be a peaceful setting for watching nature in our backyard has turned into a full scale gang land war.  I'd seen a few hummingbirds flying by on a regular basis and thought, "Hey, let's hang a feeder right here next to the patio table, it'll be great!" WRONG!!  I swear it's like survival of the fittest out there.  I'm thinking of having a body suit of kevlar made so I can sit and drink a cup of coffee. NOT in a red cup either, another stupid move.  I don't know how you all who have more than one feeder do it!  Then again you probably don't hang them right in front of your faces either! LOL...ah well....

What else goes 0 to 60 in stupid-seconds?   Pretty much anything a man can get ahold of...

 Here is my step card using the images Stella's Tire/Testicles and Guy Car.

Complete with a wood shingled man cave garage and assorted banter on signs. 

Here is my...

PICK OF THE WEEK!

Dr. Sonia with her Altered Clock

First off, she refers to herself as a "novice" in quilling, but would you look at this! I love that she re-purposed a clock and made such a beautiful scenery! All the little leaves on that tree, she hand embossed the veins as well.  Incredible attention to detail and what amazing talent. She has more detailed pictures on her blog here if you'd like to check it out closer up!

 

Thank you so much for every single awesome comment that was left for me. I had the best laughs and smiles. 

Hugs to you all and happy stamping...

Lisa xx

 

 But don't stop here, there's tons more inspiration from my teamies over at

MAKE IT MONDAY

and our gracious sponsor who is offering the prize of 7 single digis...WOW!



Kiss The Card...

It's another gorgeous day in the bloggy land neighborhood.  The birds are singing, the butterflies are flitting, rainbows are shining and people are kissing cards!  Say what? That's right, kissing cards.  Today is my second week to host the challenge over at Our Creative Corner and I've chosen the theme of Kissing and a twist.  No, I don't mean plant a big wet one on your project, but use the technique of kissing one stamp to another stamp AND add the letters X and O somewhere in the midst of all of that.  Here is a link to help show what I mean if you've never tried this technique before or you just need a refresher.

Here is my card I've designed for the challenge.

These are all the stamps I've used and you can see in the picture which ones I've paired together to 'kiss.'  The following stamps are all from Stampin' Up! (Paint Prints, Silhouette Sentiments, For All You Do, and All Natural)

Close up of the kissing technique using Bliss Blue on the background flower stamp and Vintage Photo DI for the bird.

Here is my little stamp from Inkadinkado which contains the letters

 X and O.

Every week and I mean EVERY week, I'm always blown away by the exquisite designs this DT comes up with.  I'd really love it if you popped in for a visit and and left them some words of encouragement.  They all work so very hard to create the most amazing and unique ideas to inspire.

Thanks so much for stopping in and I sure hope you'll find the time to play in my challenge at

OUR CREATIVE CORNER

Challenge Theme:

KISSING TECHNIQUE and Use the letters X and O



The River Denial...



 

Taking a few liberties with the more common quote "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt", I knew this little Egyptian diva would make a humorous birthday card for our sketch challenge over at Dutch Dare.  Layering four Egyptian playing cards onto a Kraft based card, a 'pyramid' sewn border, red square mesh netting and a handmade pyramid, here sits Bonnie of the Nile (Sassy Cleopatra), colored up in copics, from Sassy Studios with a comical birthday wish. 

 

 

 

Wishing each of you all the very best.  Thank you so much for your time to visit my blog.

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx

Inspiration and Ingenuity...

I have a very precious image today from Nicecrane Designs. This image is one of 4 in a set and details two young boys building their derby car from nothing but scraps and a dream. I loved all the images, but found this one to be most depicting of inspiration and motivation. 

A few masculine textures and embellishment, paired with an embossed sentiment and here's a card to help encourage perseverance. 



 

 Absolutely Incredible Kids

 

Here are a few photos from a car show that my husband and daughter attended last week. How fitting that what these men created probably stemmed from a childhood experience quite like my card.  Check out all the recycled parts!!

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping in!

Hugs n ' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx

 

Ridiculously Amazing Day...

 I'll be honest, I will pass on the lady that jumps out of a cake, for my birthday, BUT... I would be thrilled with a giant slice that I could jump into!  Which is why this little image, Polly's Slice Of Cake from Squigglefly, artist Cheryl Alger, tickled my funny bone.  She's elbow deep in chocolate fudge and obviously having a ridiculously amazing birthday. Sentiment is from Ginger's House.  

 

 

I can't wait to kick off this next linky party happening over at Make It Monday, so I won't keep you long, but thank you so much if you contributed to the excellent creativity I thoroughly enjoyed looking at last week.  Here's an entry that stood out to me that I'd like to share.

PICK OF THE WEEK!

Isn't this something! Look how Jan has created this crack in the brick wall and made the sentiment to fit perfectly.  What a fun and inspiring card.  To read more about this, please visit her blog

 She's gone Digital

 

Stop in and say hi to the sweet DT and see what they've been up to this week too!

 

 Make It Monday

 Our Wonderful Sponsor

 Prize: It's Your Birthday Rubber Stamp

 

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx

 

 



Altered Garage Sale Tray

2 posts at one time to run this morning, so please check my Our Creative Corner Challenge post to see what's happening there too. :) 
 

Ready for a HECK OF A CHALLENGE????

Then you've absolutely come to the right place.  I'm so excited to announce that this is a brand-spankin' NEW challenge blog sponsored by Craft and Hobby Store in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire as well as their online store Every Crafts a Pound and I've been honored with the privilege to DT alongside a very creative crew! 

So, what's in store for Heck Of a Challenge this month, you ask...

ANYTHING GOES!!

 Here is my project for this month....an altered tray from a garage sale.  I paid $0.25 for this.

 Here is the tray in its original form.  Very cute, but I wanted it to fit another project I'd already completed.

A few pictures to show the transformation

 Remember the little altered box I posted awhile back? The post on it can be found here.  Now it's part of a set that sits wonderfully on my desk!

 

Interested in knowing more about this NEW challenge blog?  Check it out at...

 

Heck Of a Challenge

The challenges will be monthly with a new theme set on the 1st of each month.

All types of Craft are welcome and you can enter more than once but each entry MUST be a different type of craft.

Challenge - Anything Goes

Prize -   £10 to spend in store or online ( excluding P&P)

Challenge runs until 8 pm on the last day of September

 

 Thank you so much for all your wonderful and encouraging comments and for the time you take out of your busy day to visit me. :)  I appreciate it.

 

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx



I Dare You To Resist Resisting...

Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? ...I'm so excited because today is my very first day to host at Our Creative Corner!  For this challenge I chose the theme resisting and it has to include wings somewhere on your project.  That's right, I said project.  It doesn't have to be a card, but it does need to describe the resisting technique and inlude some beautiful wings somewhere or everywhere on it.  For more details and to see the incredible talent of my teamies, please visit Our Creative Corner and share your creative ideas with us too.

 

Here is my card I've titled

Palindrome In Wings

Definition of a palindrome -

A type of word play in which a word, phrase, or sentence reads the same backward or forward.

The first palindromic sentence in English appeared in 1614.

 

Why am I givng you all this information?  Because it relates to the thought process I had when designing the three distinct phases of this emboss resisted (with Versarmark & clear Embossing powder) card.

Stage 1

Black and white to symbolize the origin of a thought

 

Stage 2

Light blue alluding to beginnings of a thought transforming to a dream

 

 Stage 3

The dream has taken flight and become a reality; full of color and ready to journey.

 

But why the palindrome then? 

"Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?"

For one, I was enticed by the phrase alone, two...how cool is it that you can read it from right to left and it says the same thing backwards and three, a  thought that becomes a dream, only means a chance for another thought to take the same journey...it's never ending!

So that's the history of my little card. Hope you've enjoyed looking at it and we would really love to see your out of the box resisted ideas with wings as well!

 

Stop on in and say hi at

Our Creative Corner

Theme:

RESIST & WINGS

 

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments you've all left recently...I appreciate them.

Hugs n' Happy Stamping...

Lisa xx