From The Kitchen Of

Hello there my crafty friends, it's me, Laura!

Happy Halloween!  I hope you have a fun day with your tricks-or-treats.  I know some had their festivities over the weekend, but here in AZ the games begin at sundown tonight.  My daughter invited us to go trick-or-treating with her and the kids and that is what I want to do but, that could lead to disaster.  For one, my dogs would go berserk if people were ringing the doorbell all night long and I could come home to shredded curtains and who knows what else.  Secondly, though I live in a decent neighborhood, my house would most likely get egged and/or TP'd if I wasn't handing out candy since I do live close to a high school and two middle schools (its happened before).  Then there is the option of putting out a bucket of candy and leaving a note that asks to please take one.  HA!  Last year we did this because we needed to run out for a bit.  Within the 30 minutes we were gone, all of the candy had disappeared... and I had left enough to give the whole neighborhood cavities!

Today I have my DT card for the Twist Of Faith Cards challenge where the theme is HARVEST TIME/THANKSGIVING, which started yesterday.  I did post the card yesterday, a tad late, but could not muster up the brain power to blog it until this morning.  My craft room is such a disaster right now, that my arms are resting on a pile of markers while typing this.  The disaster also lead to me spilling my coffee and ruining my first attempt at this card and then scrambling to color a new image.  Sigh...

I have used this adorable digital image called Autumn Friends from Stamp Art Design by Kathryne who is so generously sponsoring us this week.  Our random winner will receive 4 images of their choosing from Kathryne's collection over at Whimsy Stamps.  I would love it if you could stop by the TOFC challenge blog to join in the fun and take a look at the beautiful cards created by my very talented teamies.  Oh, and we're looking for two more design team members.  Pauline has all of the info posted on how to become part of the team.

The patterned papers I've chosen are some favorites that I purchased a year ago with the intention of making a cookbook.  HA!  They are designed by one of my all time favorite artists, Renae Lindgren.  I sent out Christmas cards designed by her for about three or four years in a row, until I started sending out homemade ones of course.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Your visits and comments are so very appreciated.  I have listed the supplies I used at the bottom of this post.  Have a great day and better tomorrows!

♥ Laura C.

Challenges:

Die Cuttin Divas (Anything Goes - Die, Woodland Branch by Memory Box)
Sentimental Sundays (Pumpkins) Yay, I Made Top 3!
Sketch & Stash (#99 Kevin's Sketch)
Sweet Stampin (What's Cookin/Something To Eat)

Supplies:

Image: Stamp Art Design (Autumn Friends)
Inks: Copic Markers (Face: E11, E13, E15, R20 - Arms: E33, E37 - Hat: YR21, YR24, E37 - Heart & Neckerchief: R24, R29, R89 - Shirt: B21, B95, B99 - Gloves: YG03, G24, G28 - Pumpkin: YR04, YR07, YR21, E07 - Bird: C3, C5, C7, C9 - Beak & Feet: Y17, Y38 - Grass: G94, G99), Ranger Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Aged Mahogany, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint)
Cardstock: Bazzill
PP: Creative Imaginations (Renae Lindgren)
Dies: Memory Box (Woodland Branch)
Punches: EK Success (Paper Shapers small Apple)
Misc: Doily, Burlap Ribbon, White Crayola Pencil

Animals - Two By Two

Hi there crafty friends, it's me, Laura!

I have for you today, my DT project for the Twist Of Faith Cards challenge where this week's theme is ANIMALS.  Fun, right?  We are being sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps, who is generously giving our random prize winner their choice of 7 digital images.  Come on by the TOF challenge blog by clicking here to join in on the fun and checking out the fabulous creations created by my teammates.

For my card, I have used several images by Bugaboo to create a Noah's Ark setting.  The Lion Topper is a single image, while the giraffe, elephant and monkey are from a set of seven images called Animal Blocks.  All are colored in with my Copics.  The wood grain patterned paper that I've used for the boat is also digital and so I was able to print my paper and animal images all on the same sheet of white cardstock.  All of the supplies I used for creating this card are listed below but if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.

 

Though we're all different, we're on this ride together and heading to the same place.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time and stopping by today!  You're friendship means the world to me and your comments lift me up.  Have a great day and better tomorrows!

 

♥ Laura C.

Challenges:

Addicted To Stamps (Animal Friends)
Lollipop Crafts (Happy Birthday)
Paper Play (Wooden It Be Nice)
Penny Black Allsorts (Animal Magic)

Supplies Used:

Images: Bugaboo (Lion Topper, Animal Blocks), Michael's (Ship's Wheel), JRL Design (Puffy Clouds)
Inks: Copic Markers (Lion: E11, E13, E15 - Giraffe: Y08, Y11, Y15, Y17, YR24 - Elephant: C1, C3, C5 - Monkey: E07, E18, E19 - Windows: Y28, E29, E37 - Wheel: E31, E33, E37, C5, C7, C9 - Clouds: B000), Ranger Distress Inks (Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans, Seedless Preserves, Brushed Corduroy, Black Soot), Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Cardstock: Recollections, Bazzill
PP: Raspberry Road (Strawberry Hill)
Dies: Sizzix (Valentine Flourishes), QuicKutz (Anchor)
Misc: Ranger (Star Dust Stickles), Charm, Cheese Cloth, Twine

Favorites

Hi Friends, it's me, Laura!

I have for you today, my DT card for the Twist Of Faith card challenge blog.  This week's theme is FAVORITES.  How fun is that???  Sounds easy, right?  Well, it isn't as easy as you might think.  I once made myself a list of my favorite things, and before I knew it, I had filled several pieces of columned paper, front and back, and was even adding things in the margins, sideways.  So how in the world is a girl to narrow down those choices and fit them into a 6 x 6 inch card?  It wasn't easy but I did have help.

Our challenge is being sponsored by the fabulous Designed 2 Delight who is allowing us to give away THREE prizes this week.  As soon as I clicked onto their website, I saw the Moonlight Snowman and had to have him because snowmen are most definitely one of my favorite things.

Isn't he just too cute?  I colored him up with my Copics, inked with my Distress Inks and then used a Snow Writer and Star Dust Stickles at the base (all favorites).  I chose purple for my main color scheme because of another challenge I am entering and also because it was a new challenge for me to try using some "non-traditional" colors.  I am pleased with the result and it looks even better in person.

May you purify me from sin with hyssop, that I may be clean;
May you wash me, that I may become whiter even than snow.
Psalms 51:7

Thank You so much for stopping by today, I really appreciate your taking time to visit.  The recipe for this card is at the bottom of this post.  Please don't forgot to stop by Twist Of Faith Cards and see what my very talented teammates have created and hopefully be inspired to participate in our challenge.  Have a great day and even better tomorrows!

♥ Laura C.

Challenges:

ABC Christmas (U - Up To You)
Anything Goes (Make Your Own Embellishments)
Card Crafter's Circle (Black, White + 1 Color = Purple)
Christmas Stampin All Year Long (Anything Goes)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas (Snowflakes)
Paper Play (Simply Cute)
Sentimental Sundays (Black, White + 1 Color = Purple)
Whimsy Stamps Inspiration (All Things Sparkly)
Winter Wonderland (Photo Inspiration - Purple, Snowy Baubles)

Recipe:

Image: Designed 2 Delight (Moonlight Snowman)
Inks: Copic Markers (Scarf & Hat V000, V05, V06, V09 - Snowman C1, C3 - Buttons C5, C9 - Carrot Nose YR00, YR04, Y38 - Moon 0, Y11, Y15 - Heart R20, R22, R24, R29), Ranger Distress Inks (Faded Jeans, Seedless Preserves)
Cardstock: Recollections (Charcoal)
PP: Recollections (White Glitter Corogated, Burgundy Pearl), Sweet Shoppe Designs (White w/Purple Snowflakes, Purple w/White Snowflakes)
Dies: Memory Box (Frosty Border), Spellbinders (Picot Edge Circles)
Misc: Ranger (Star Dust Stickles), DecoArt (Snow Writer, Snow (Titanium) White Paint) Recollections (Pearl Stickers)

Leaves

Hello Crafty Friends!  I hope you're all having a wonderful autumn day and getting geared up for these upcoming holidays.  I just finally got my fall/Halloween decorations down from the garage shelves yesterday and hope to do a little decorating in between crafting which, may not get me very far.  I barely leave my craft shed long enough to grab a bite to eat...

I have for you today, a card that goes with our theme over at Going Grey with Scrap Creations, and that is LEAVES.  I love fall leaves!  I was born and raised in Wisconsin and always loved the change of seasons, but fall was my favorite.  Not only for the gorgeous color, but it always signaled that the holidays were coming too.

I realized, while going through my stuff, that I don't have much for fall stamps.  I have a few digital images but no fall themed Magnolia stamps (GASP!), no leaves, just pumpkins (but that isn't the theme I'm working with this week).  I believe I need to visit Diana's store very soon even though I have an order showing up any day now.

For this card, I pulled out my all time favorite leaf paper by Provo Craft that I have had forrrrevvvverrr!  It's Fluttery Things by Michelle Anderson and the stripe that I've paired it up with is Tim Coffee's Fall Stripe by K&Co.  I cut the maple leaf from thin chipboard using my Cricut and layered it three times.  Michael's is having a sale on their glitter paper this week and I went a little CRAZY!  I used the orange to back my chipboard cut-out.  The letters are Heidi Swapp's chipboard letters that I inked, and then tied that little tag to.  I stamped "I am" using my Hero Arts alphabet letters set called Handwritten onto a tag that I die cut.  The sentiment inside says "For You".  If you're interested in the full recipe, just head to the bottom of the post.

Thank You So Much for stopping by today!

♥ Laura C.

Challenges:

Die Cuttin' Divas (3 Fall Colors - Yellow, Orange & Green)
Simon Says Stamp (Dies and/or Punches)
Sweet Stampin' (Autumn Leaves/Trees)
I Brake For Challenges (I Brake For Fall)
Creative Inspirations (Anything Goes)

What I Used:

Stamps: Hero Arts (Handwritten)
Inks: Ranger Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge)
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
PP: Provo Craft (Fluttery Things by Michelle Anderson), K&Co. (Tim Coffee Fall Stripe), Recollections (Chipboard, Orange Glitter)
Dies: Cricut (Flower Shoppe), Memory Box (Woodland Branch) Sizzix (Mini Tags)
Misc: Recollections (Brads), Heidi Swapp (Chipboard Alphabet - She), Twine & Buttons from my craft stash.

For Every Season

A good Sunday morning to you my crafty friends!  I hope all is wonderful on your end.  Here in Arizona we are finally enjoying some lovely weather.  It's still warm, but not Cook-Your-Goose hot anymore.  At least I don't dread having to run out to the store...

Today I am posting my DT project for the Twist Of Faith Cards challenge blog.  (Let's just call it a mid-week posting, shall we)?  Our theme is FOR EVERY SEASON and we are being sponsored by Pholkart Blessings who is offering our random prize winner their choice of 2 digital images from the Pholkart Blessings Etsy Shop.

The image I chose is Watching The Night.  I used my kitty Isabella as the model to ink the colors.  The rest of the image was paper pieced and sewn.  The inspirational scripture I have chosen is from Genesis 1:14: And God went on to say; "Let luminaries come to be in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night; and they must serve as signs and for seasons and for days and years".  I have not yet chosen the Christmas sentiment but I'm pretty sure it will be about peace.

The supplies I used to create this card are listed at the bottom of the post.  I Thank You so much for stopping by and leaving your fantastic comments.  Have a great day and even better tomorrows!

♥ Laura C.

Recipe:

Image: Pholkart Blessings (Watching The Night)
Inks: Ranger Distress Inks
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Patterned Papers: Creative Imaginations (Snowflakes by Rene Lindgren), The blue dotted paper is unknown from my paper stash
Dies: QuicKutz (Poinsettia, Ice Cream Cone, Mouse, Lemon Slice, Mini Gift), Spellbinders (Classic Ovals)
Misc: Recollections (Half Pearls, Rhinestones)

Halloween Pumpkins

Happy Tuesday Everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend and your week is off to a good start.  My hubby and I took a long weekend and went to Albuquerque, NM for the hot-air balloon festival.  It was fantastic!  Hence why this post is a few hours late.

Here I have for you, my DT card for the GGSC (Going Grey w/Scrap Creations) blog.  This week's theme is PUMPKINS and with the fall season under way and Halloween getting so close, we had better get ourselves in gear.  So head on over there and get inspired by my oh-so-fabulous teamies and their awesome creations.

Here is the card I created using an image by Milk Coffee called Lisbeth Halloween.  She is a digital image that I won, along with two others, on the Card Crafter's Circle challenge blog.  Milk Coffee also has a challenge blog that I will enter this card into.

My background papers are from Bearly Mine and believe it or not, were freebies.  Donna has a couple of wonderful sites where she has give-aways and free papers to scoop up on, as well as her gorgeous paper sets for purchase.  She too has a challenge blog that my card will be entered into this week.  Oh, and I can't forget the layout.  It is done up via Cordine's sketch from the Sketchy Challenges.

I'm still working on taking better photos.  I have taken so many of this card that I ran my camera out of batteries.  I tried all different times of the day, indoors, outdoors, flash, no flash...  I don't know what to try next except to do some research on the Internet.  I'm thinking the colors I used to color my image may be a contributor to why Lisbeth is a bit blurry, but I can tell you that the actual image is not that bright.  Maybe a white background would work better?

Thank you so much for your visit!  If you're curious, more of what I used to make this card is at the bottom of the post.  Have a wonderful day and even better tomorrows!

♥ Laura C.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Bearly Mine (Pearls & Swirls)
Charisma Cardz (Badda Bing!)
Crafting For All Seasons (Costumes/Dress-Up)
Hooked On Craft (Halloween)
Loves Rubber Stamps (Bling Baby - Yeah!)
Milk Coffee (Welcome Fall)
Simon Says Stamp (Glimmer & Shine)
The Sketchy Challenges (Cordine's Sketch)
Totally Gorjuss (Anything Goes)

Recipe:

Image: Milk Coffee (Lisbeth Halloween)
Inks: Copic Markers (Hair: C1, C3, C5, C7, C9 - Skin: E000, E00, E21, R20 - Dress: V01, V12, V15, V17 - Pumpkins: YR000, YR04, YR07, YR09, YR65 - Stem: G21, G24, G28 - Glow: YG00), Ranger Distress Inks (Black Soot), ColorBox (Popcorn)
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Patterned Paper: Barely Mine Designs
Dies: Sizzix (Flower & Vines #2, Cobweb), QuicKutz (Bats, Spider, Ghost)
Punches: Martha Stewart (Double Edge Spiderweb)
Misc: Recollections (Pearls), Michaels (Purple Flowers, Black Glitter)

Fall Flowers

Hey there crafty friends!  I hope you've had a most wonderful weekend and are off to a good start on your week.

I don't know about everyone else, but I ALWAYS have a song in my head and it changes as soon as I see or hear something that reminds me of another song.  Even if it's a song that I can't stand, it will stick until another decides to take it's place.  Well, today I have that little rabbit from Alice in Wonderland in my head running around and repeating "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date".  I haven't seen that movie in years and I don't know if that is his line, but that's what is spinning around in this crazy ol' noggin of mine since I am running a bit behind.  Sigh...!

This week at Going Grey with Scrap Creations the theme is FALL FLOWERS and I have for you today, my DT inspiration project which is a tag.  This is another first for me since I have not yet made a tag to submit into challenges.  I rather like the idea of making something that you can just attach to a gift or adhere to a card base and add a lovely sentiment inside.

I have colored up this beautiful Wizard Tilda with my Copic markers and added some dimensional glaze to her glasses to make them stand out a bit.  The tag was cut using my Spellbinders dies and the layout was inspired by a sketch and also by the sentiment that I've added.  I have distressed and embossed pretty much everything and then added lace, ribbon, twine, gems, pearls, Stickles and a charm to finish it off.  The detailed recipe can be found at the bottom of the post.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a look around.  I really appreciate each and every visitor and comment.  Your words have been encouraging and uplifting and I cannot thank you enough.  Have a fantastic day and even better tomorrows!

 

♥ Laura C.

 

Challenges I would like to enter:

 

It's A Magnolia Challenge (Tag)

Magnolia Down Under (Sketch)

Tilda's Town (Clean And Simple or Fancy And Fussy)

Just Magnolia (Pearls & Die Cuts or Punches)

Totally Tilda (Bingo - Full House)

7 Kids College Fund (Fall Is In The Air)

Sketch N Stash (Sketch - Used My Stash)

Dutch Magnolia Chickies (Bingo - Swirls, Charm, Ribbon - Text, Lace, Ribbon)

Magnolia Mania (Bow)

Simon Says Stamp (Anything Goes)

 

Recipe:

 

Stamps & Images: Magnolia of Sweden (Wizard Tilda), Michelle Perkett Studio (Sentiment)

Inks: Copic Markers (Hair: E7, E19, E21, E29 - Skin: E000, E00, E21 R20 - Dress & Socks: YR14, YR21, YR24 - Jacket G94, G99 - Belt: YR14, E15 - Shoes: E31, E33, E37 - Wand: E33, E37, E74 E79 - Grass: G20) Ranger Distress Inks (Vintage Photo, Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed)

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper: K&Co. (Tim Coffee Fall Stripe), I cannot find info on the floral PP

Dies: Spellbinders (Labels Eight, Circles)

Punches: McGill (Leaves, Circles [used to make the hole in the tag and the ring around it])

Misc: Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (Swiss Dot & Swirl), Ranger (Vintage Photo Distress Powder, Star Dust Stickles), Plaid (Dimensional Glaze), JoAnn (Ribbons, Lace, Twine), Michael's (Gems, Pearls, Charm)