Garden Girl

Happy Friday! Here's a nice-weather card I made using this sweet little Gardening Girl from Lilac City Designs. She looks like she's enjoying spring! Or at least, winter in Florida like we are right now on our vacation. :-) I colored her with Koh-i-Noor pencils and Gamsol.

Enjoy the day and the upcoming weekend! I'll have another project tomorrow and SUNDAY is the big Club Anya kickoff and blog hop so be ready - the fun starts at NOON {Central Time} over on the Club Anya blog.

Lilac City Designs - Applique Cat

Today's project features the latest stamp designs Kelli over at Lilac City Designs created before she took a family break from creating images. She is hoping to be back soon with more new designs, and more of those cutie patootie KIDS! This card uses the Applique Cat set.

Nothing too fancy here. I stamped the cat with Palette Noir and colred with Copics. I painted over the colored wings with Angel Wings Shimmerz. Some Black & Silver May Arts Ribbon and a bunch of circles I made with my nesties and viola!

Thanks for stopping by today. I have lots of great stuff to share with you this week so check back soon!

Have You Hugged a Snowman Today?

Isn't this little girl the CUTEST?!? She is my absolute favorite image from Lilac City Designs. She just makes me smile, she's so adorable and that snowman - love!! I chose the colors based on this pretty patterned paper that I wanted to use. Once I stamped her with Palette Noir ink, I colored the image in with colored pencils and Gamsol. I used my Quickie Glue pen to glitter the snowman with Dazzling Diamonds glitter, and then I flocked the snow underneath him with white flock, as well as the brim of her hat and her little hat puff ball. Double ribbon in coordinating colors and a few dimensionals finish it all off.

Thanks for stopping by today - did anyone brave the crowds to get some deals? Do tell! I did a little bit of online purchasing but not too much. We don't need a lot right now which is good! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday weekend!

What's New, Pussycat?

Have you seen what's new from Lilac City Designs?! It's these adorable new Cat (there's Dog too) Applique stamps! Aren't they fun?

This card uses sketch challenge SC99 from Splitcoast. I think it worked well with the size of the main image. I laid out the base with some of my precious Wild Wasabi cardstock and some unknown patterned paper scraps. Then stamped the cat in Palette Noir on GP 110# white cardstock, masked it off, and added the oval underneath. I colored him with Copic markers and added Shimmerz paints to the spots and the oval. {um, do you all LOVE love Shimmerz as much as I do?! Wow. It is tied for first place {with glitter} for my favorite papercrafting embellishment!}

Then I cut him out, mounted on dimensionals and added him to the center panel, which is a piece of white vellum that I ran through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder (mounted on a Celery base to lighten it up).

Fall Sale @ Lilac City Designs!!

Check out the great sale Kelli is having to kick off fall!! Very cheap shipping too - woo hoo!! Click the photo for details or visit the Store!

Lilac City Designs - It's Your Day

Another card using my newest Lilac City Designs stamp set - It's Your Day!! Have you SEEN what Kelli's been up to with her kids designs? They're just adorable.

Really really easy card - in fact the lack of "extras" is almost embarrassing!! But I made this about 2 weeks ago before I even dug out *any* embellishments from the boxes, so it's just patterned paper, cardstock, markers and glitter. I don't think I've gone that "old school" in years! She turned out cute though, so here she is! I used Copics for the coloring and I paper pierced her shirt.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! DH got my temporary stamping area cleared out and tables set up, so hopefully I can have a little more mojo flowing since I have a space I can actually work in! Wish me luck!

SC187 - More Snowman Hugs

Here's another card using Hug a Snowman images from Lilac City Designs. This little girl is just so adorable!

This uses this week's sketch challenge from Splitcoast - SC187. I stamped the image in Palette Noir and colored with Copic markers (did the image highlight with Copic markers too). I added a layer of glitter for the snow underneath. The background paper is a shiny, flocked paper (too bad I covered so much of it up with layers!). I ran the lighter blue panel through the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and then cut it apart for the layers (this color is the lighter blue from the '08 In Colors but I forget the name at the moment). Here is the sketch:

I meant to stamp a sentiment on the Not Quite Navy panel underneath and emboss it with white EP but I forgot. Maybe I'll go back and do that still - this stamp set has really cute and fun sentiments.

Have a great day!

Hug a Snowman - CTD4

Here's one of the cards I made at Scrapmania on Saturday night. It was SO much fun to get out, have some girl time, AND get some stampin' done. These images are from the upcoming Lilac City Designs winter set - Hug a Snowman. It was available for preorder last month and is now back in the vault until fall. So start your wish list, because when it is available again I know it is going to be very popular!

I finally got to play with this past week's Color Throwdown combination too -

I stamped the main image in Palette Noir on GP 110# white and colored it with Stampin' Up! markers (um, why is the Almost Amethyst marker so dark???) The snowman's scarf is in Lovely Lilac and Old Olive to give a little contrast with the little girl's outfit, and then flocked his snowman body using Doodlebug white flock - he's cute AND fuzzy (thanks Heather!).

Birthday Cutie - CBC27, HMSC5

Wednesday already?! You know what that means - time for the latest Belli Challenge - Splitcoast key word CBC27. This week's challenge was to create something with a birthday theme, in honor of Chris' {a.k.a. she who started it all!} birthday. Happy birthday!!

Luckily for me, I just happened to have some adorable new birthday stamps that needed to see some more ink! I used the new birthday girl set from Lilac City Designs - she will be released on August 4th.

I used the current H&M Stamps sketch challenge on this card - HMSC5 - nice and simple, just how I like 'em! I think it was just perfect for this image. This is another "outside of my comfort zone" card with all the bright colors, but hey, ya only live once. Patterned paper from DCWV, cardstock in Green Galore and Pumpkin Pie from Stampin' Up!. Hard to tell from the pic but the PP has green, orange and blue running through it, hence the color choices for the main image. I added the faux Dew Drops using mini glue dots.

Click the links below to check out the projects from all the other Belli Challenge girls! Who can resist a good birthday celebration anyway?

Holly
Shelly
Rochelle
Laurie
Chris
Christi
Ceal
Lorie

NEW Lilac City - YKYR1, SC183

I got some new stamps from Kelli of Lilac City Designs the other day - yay!! Have you SEEN what she's been up to? These kids are so adorable and she comes up with the best sentiments. The newest little darling will be released on August 4th.

Also, here's a little story about two uber-talented stampers that started a new challenge blog. A nice, laid-back challenge blog for those of us who, sadly, at this point do not have unlimited time to be making challenge cards every day. This one is monthly - nice. The girls are Deb and Julie and the new site is called Y.ou K.now Y.ou R.ock.

Anyway, the first challenge they posted {YKYR1} is called "Rock the Cover" - check the CD in your player, find the cover art and be inspired in some way. You have until August 6th to participate.

Now, don't laugh, but here is the CD that was in our kitchen/dining room radio when I finally got it mounted and plugged in on Sunday - the thing has been in a box for weeks.Yes, right now I sure do feel like a "moooooooom"; but I have an almost 4 year old. These things can't be helped I suppose. {Although I will confess I considered cheating -- but in the end I just went with it}. And what better stamps to immortalize my version of a kid's CD cover art than with new kid-themed stamps? I love it when a plan comes together! Here's the card:

I also used SC183 from Splitcoast on this one. Pretty much all of my supplies are still in boxes, I had to dig dig dig to find some suitable patterened paper, ribbon and my Copics. It works though, right? I would have preferred more yellow in the PP, and circles instead of squares & such, but beggars can't be choosers, LOL. I'm lucky I came up with the supplies I did! That temporary stamping area is first on the list for this weekend or there is going to be trouble around here!!

Lilac City Skater - WSC31

Happy Wednesday! I am still alive, contrary to popular belief! Thank goodness for Blogger Scheduled Posts, huh? My camera had to take a little adventure back to Canon after an excursion with my DH (don't get me started) but it is fixed now and back in my loving arms - and I have a LOT of things to share with you. Starting right here with the absolute cutest boy around!

He is of course the Skateboard Boy from Lilac City Designs by Kelli Caslow. Did you know she's been nominated for a Guest Artist spot over at Sheetload? Click here to vote {for Kelli} in the poll until July 21st (it's in the upper left sidebar). If you'd like to purchase Lilac City Designs stamps, you can visit the etsy shop. I just took a peek and there are a few sets available right now! Kelli is also working hard to get the actual stamp manufacturing contracted out so she can concentrate on getting more images designed and have more supply on hand. We'll keep you posted!

Ok, back to the card. Seriously - I just love this kid! He's so cute. {I also have some new Lilac City sets to play with, so stay tuned for more samples soon!}. This card layout is from Beate's WSC31 - a great layout for this size of images. I stamped him in Palette Noir on GP 110# white cardstock. I colored his hair, hat, skin, board and shoes with Copic markers. I then stamped him on some camouflage paper I had in my stash, and on some denim paper and cut out his new shirt and pants. I made the little jeans patch and the cuffs a different part of the paper than the rest of the jeans so it had some definition.

I coated the top of the skateboard with my Quickie Glue Pen and added Art Institute black glitter (of course). I made the green star and black circle brads by dipping them into Mono Aqua glue and then into the pots of glitter and let dry. They are a little bit delicate (i.e. the "sugar" coating will peel off if you're too rough with them) but for the most part it works and I can have custom colors when I need them. Next time I might try Metal Glue and see if it works any better than the Aqua (although really, if you don't smash or rub at the glitter coating, it's really not a problem). I took some close ups in case anyone is interested in the details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lilac City Designs - First Card & TSSC22!

I know I have been a bad blogger lately; so sick, not checking in, no projects to share. I am sorry - I have missed you all very much. If I give you some eye candy, will you love me again?? Puh-leeeze?? *g*

What do you think? Do you LOVE LOVE him as much as I do?? This little man is the absolute cutest, I can hardly stand it. And he comes with the best little boy sayings too. Since I have two boys I knew just had to have these stamps. You can check out all of Kelli's offerings here.

This one also uses the sketch from MJ's TechnoStamper Sketch Challenge #22 {TSSC22}. I know it's been awhile since I've done her challenges, life's just been too crazy. This sketch went perfectly with my new little boy though, so I'm finally back in the challenge loop -- at least a little!

The colors on this one are Basic Grey, Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Buckaroo Blue. I stamped the little guy onto GP 110# white with my Palette Noir ink pad, and colored him with Prisma & Copic markers. I had to do his skin with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol because I don't have an acceptable flesh colored marker yet. I did the highlight with a Prisma marker too. The ground under his skateboard is also Prismacolor pencils. Take a look at this picture {sorry, I had to adjust the lighting to make the sparkley bits come out so the colors are a bit off}:

It's hard to see, but I after I colored the skateboard with a dark grey marker, I realized it was too plain. Of course this is a card for a BOY, so I didn't want it to be too fussy. But we all know that skateboard surfaces have that sandpapery/abrasive texture - so I coated the whole thing with a Quickie Glue pen and added Art Institute black glitter. You can sorta see the shiny flecks in the photo. It's still boyish though!

Stamp Sets & Updates!

I just looked in the Lilac City Designs etsy store, and as of right now, Kelli has snuck two more stamp sets in there! A skateboarding boy and a softball girl -- go get them while you can! You can check her personal blog and the Lilac City Designs blog for updates too, and info as to when more sets will be ready. The first batch she put up sold out in 14 minutes so RUN! LOL.

As for me, I am doing a bit better. All the tests came back negative - mono and strep-A. After my trip to urgent care last weekend for prednisone, I felt better for a couple days but then started going back downhill yesterday -- quite fast and a lot of pain and swelling came back. They *think* it is either a really strong non-strep-A bacteria or a non-mono virus that is just hanging on. They said they can't retest strep since I've been on antibiotics, so I guess we may never know. I am back on prednisone for a much longer period and also on stronger antibiotics so we can hopefully whip this bug once and for all. I just hope it's one of those two things and these meds, along with rest and all that will get me back. Great timing, huh? Hopefully I am on the mend, thanks to everyone for the happy & healing thoughts, I have needed them!

Lilac City Designs

Guess what? The fabulously talented Kelli Caslow has taken the plunge to turn her designs into stamps. The new kid in town? Lilac City Designs!

You really have to go check it out! You can click here to go right to the page that has the stamps. Tell me those are not about the cutest kid images you've ever seen! There's a lot of info on the website so be sure to surf around and take in all the sights.

In fact, make extra sure you click to Meet the Inspiration Team. *wink* Yes, I am joining Kelli and Angie on the first-every Inspiration Team for Lilac City Designs. Kelli put stamps in the mail for us on Monday so look for some new goodies coming soon! I've added Kelli's and Angie's blogs to my left side bar - give them some love when you get a chance.

That's all for now, I am still in the middle of this sickness, although hopefully on the upward swing, so I need my health & beauty rest. ;-) I will have a project to share with you tomorrow, I promise!