Teachabella!

Hi all!

I am back for today's awesome Inspirational post from Design Team member Lisa Rasmussen! Take a look at this cutie....

Lisa used the super cute Teachabella stamp from Stamping Bella! I have to be honest with you...back before I started my store I was TOTALLY ADDICTED to these Bella images and I have almost ALL of them in my personal collection ... shhhh don't tell my hubby :D

I loved the names and they are sooo cute! Everytime they would have a new release I would just giggle at their names...I would tell my husband about them and he would just roll his eyes - LOL! We do have a few of the Bella images in stock in our store and will be expanding the selection as we can :)

I love how Lisa colored her image with the deep, rich colors. I also LOVE how she did the blackboard so it looks like it has eraser dust...very cool! Awesome background paper for this image as well!

I am off to get all the rest of the customer orders packaged and shipped so I can be all caught back up... pending no more disasters! Fingers crossed :)

Have a great night all and if you stamp... play along with us in this week's challenge! Just use Aqua, Espresso and Pumpkin colors in your project which are perfect for those Halloween or Fall projects that you may be working on and then let us know about it! This week we are being sponsored by the super cute Meljen's Designs so not only could you win a gift voucher to our store... you can also win your choice of 4 of their CUTE CUTE digi stamps! Hope to see ya!

Have a great night!
Laura

Fall Cutie - Scrapbook Page!

Good Morning!

I am SUPER EXCITED to share my project that I created for The Cutting Cafe with you today! This is my VERY FIRST scrapbook page that is actually for one of my own pictures. I have done a few page lay outs before but they have always been created for someone else. So ONE picture down... bazillion more to go! The funny thing is my daughter who is 3 in this picture is now 19...LOL! Running just a tad behind schedule on my scrapbooking!

Here is a look at the full 12 x 12 page

This week at The Cutting Cafe Regina gave us a choice of three different files we could use for our project. We could choose the Halloween Trio, Happy Halloween Shaped Card or the Fall Word Shaped Card. I had seen a scrapbook lay out that was done by Lynn Pratt a few years ago that was a fall themed page with leaves and had the woven background and I had always wanted to try one. So as soon as I saw the Fall Word Shaped card I knew that I had to try one of these pages!

Instead of using the Fall Word Shaped Card as an actual card I chose to use the individual letters and create my Scrapbook Page Header. That is the AWESOME thing about Regina's files... they are super versatile! The designer papers that I used are all from a Stampin Up! retired style that I believe is called Spice Cake. I LOVED this paper pack and think they should have kept it - LOL :) I first cut the letters out on the designer paper and then glued them to early espresso paper and then free cut a small border around them so they would pop a little more off the page.

Here is a close up of my Fall Letters:

I created my background weave using 3/4" strips of paper and I created some fall leaves for accents using a sizzix Leaves 2 die that is also from Stampin Up! I cut them in the same patterns in the designer paper pack, sponging the edges in early espresso and then running them through the Square Lattice Embossing Folder to add texture before popping them up on my page.

Here are a couple close up pictures of the bottom half of my page. You can see some of the leaves a little bit closer...

Fall is not complete without some adorable little Scarecrows so I added a couple of super cute ones to each side of my page for a little added sweetness :) I colored them with Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers and paper pieced their outfits to match the rest of the page. Both of these little Scarecrow images are from Bildmalarna. We will be adding these two images to our store with our next Bildmalarna order so watch for them :)

Here are some close ups of my Scarecrow cuties...

Mimo Scarecrow from Bildmalarna

Mimosa Scarecrow from Bildmalarna

I hope you liked my first scrapbook page! I had a lot of fun creating it! The color scheme for my project also fits this week's Loves Rubberstamps Challenge... use the colors Espresso, Aqua & Pumpkin... which are perfect for Fall projects! My large 12 x 12 base paper is from a Bazzill Bling paper pack. You can see the shimmer in it on some of my pictures.

Thanks for stopping by... be sure to visit The Cutting Cafe's Blog to see what the other design team members created using this week's assigned files... there are some AMAZINGLY AWESOME designs!

Happy Stampin All!
Laura

I will be entering my project in the following challenges:

Lexi's Creations - Autumn Colors
Eureka Stamps - Fall Fun
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Leaves
Papertake Weekly - Things that make you go AWWW!
Lollipop Crafts - Fall Frolic
Love to Create - Show us your Ribbon & Twine
Smudgy Antics - Sugar and Spice
Tammy's Scrappin Corner - Fall Inspiration
Use Your Stuff - Stripes
Anything But a Card - Anything Goes
Pile It On #37 - Patterned Paper
Sketchy Colors - Brown, Turquoise & White
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Anything But A Card
The Crafty Pad Designs - #187 Scraptastic
The Squirrel & The Fox - Anything Goes
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Fall
Allsorts - Week 171 Layers
Challenge Up Your Life - #77 Patchwork
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Browns & Creams
Shelly's Images Blog - Anything Goes

Sweet Melissa!

Good Morning All!

I am still running a bit behind but getting closer to being back on top of everything! I have been BUSY BUSY BUSY trying to get caught up on all the customer orders that came in while we were down with our family emergency situation. I really appreciate your patience as we get caught up!

Today I will be posting two posts... this post feature's the GORGEOUS Sweet Melissa stamp from the KennyK Collection from Whimsy Stamps. This is one of my new favorites from the Glam Gang Series. We will be adding this to our store as quickly as we can!

This STUNNING card was created by the our mega talented design team member Olivia Marmara! I LOVE the colors that Olivia chose and the way she colored this image is GORGEOUS! I also love that she made it a unique shaped card with the flourish cut outs.  Those flowers and pearls are the PERFECT accent on this beautiful card! This will definately be in my favorites file :)

I will be busy getting customer orders out the rest of the day and then will be back later this evening with a post for my Cutting Cafe project this week :)

Have a wonderful day!
Laura

Nappy Time

Hi All -

First off I wanted to say thank you for putting up with me this week. I have been running behind all week due to family issues, first with my Grandma and then my Son. I should be back on track and schedule after today! My day will be spent packaging up customer orders and getting those ready to ship tomorrow morning and then I will be hitting my stampin studio to get my projects done for this week!

Today's card is created by the mega talented Jacqueline Smith! I just saw on her blog that she has been asked to join a new design team! Congratulations to Jacqueline!! She will do an awesome job :)

After the week I had...I can TOTALLY RELATE to this poor lady - LOL! Jacqueline used the Asleep on the job image from Art Impressions which she colored with prismacolor pencils. She does awesome coloring with those. I need to break mine out and use them more. You will have to visit Jacqueline's blog to see all the details on the products she used to create this beautiful job. I am loving her background paper which is from Graphic 45.

I better get busy packing up orders, I apologize for falling behind this week! Hoping this coming week will be back to normal with no unforseen issues!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

Inspirations from Holly & Lisa!

Hi all -

I spent most all of yesterday with my son at the doctor. He came down with a severe headache that affected his vision and made him throw up. It ended up being a classic migraine but scared the ba-jeezes out of us. No one that I know of in our immediate family gets them so it was a new experience for all of us and not one I hope gets repeated! I spent most of the time taking care of him so I wasn't able to get on the computer yesterday for very long.

Sooo today you will get TWO TREATS! I will share Lisa's card that was supposed to be yesterday's post and then being Friday...it's Holly's day!! So you will get to see both :)

First up...Lisa's!

This gorgeous little fairy is from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps and is called Rosabelle. Lisa paired this with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Star Circles and the Die-namics Loopy Bloom and Open Bracket dies from My Favorite Things. These are some beautiful colors and that loopy bloom is AWESOME! I love that!

Next up is Holly...

Holly's beautiful card features the ever so glamorus Marilyn also from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps. She is from the Old Hollywood Collection. Holly did a GORGEOUS job coloring her image. For that beautiful vertical strip Holly used the Die-namics Die called Retro Squares from My Favorite Things. They have some of the BEST dies!

Marilyn Monroe is one of my favorite classic movie stars. I did draw a picture of Marilyn in pencil back in 2003....

I was just drawing for fun...practicing my portraits. Well I am off to get some orders packaged up...the SATURATED CANARY PREORDERS arrived today! YAY!!

If you get some stampy time be sure to enter this week's Loves Rubberstamps Challenge...it's an ANYTHING GOES and there will be a prize not only from our store but The Cutting Cafe too! Don't miss out!

Have a great night!
Laura

Rain Boots...Not Made for Splashing!

Good Afternoon All!

I am back with my VERY FIRST Design Team Post for The Cutting Cafe! I am SOOOO excited to be on this team!

For our first Design team Challenge we were to use the adorable Rain Boots Shaped Card. I think these little boots are the absolute CUTEST! One thing that I LOVED about this file was that it comes as the full shaped card, and then the little boots are seperate. You cut them out and layer them on the card shape. With the boots being seperate you could use them as embellishments on a scrapbook page, or use a single boot on a card. LOTS of possibilities!

Here is my creation...

For my little boots I chose to use them as the shaped card. I think the shaped cards are so fun to give because it makes them more unique :) The paper I chose is from the Simple Stories 6x6 paper pack called Baby Steps. I love this paper because it has kind of a distressed aged look to the patterns which is what I wanted for my boots. One thing that you have to remember is that when you are tracing your boot pattern on the back of your patterned paper...remember when you flip it over it will be the mirror image. Ask me how I figured that out - LOL! Oh well... I have not one but TWO cute little designer boots facing right to use on another project :) That is another cool thing about this file - You can make your boots face either way by just flipping the way you trace it on your paper! My boot trim piece and the heel pieces are both cut from scrap pieces of paper from this same pack. I did sponge the edges of both my boots and the heel pieces with early espresso ink to give them some definition and to help seperate the pieces.

I added some pearls to my boots and some cream colored ribbon roses from my stash. The sentiment is from the Flourishes stamp set called Apple of My Eye. I punched it using a small oval punch from Stampin Up!, sponged the edges with Early Espresso and popped it on a dimensional. I added a couple more pearls to tie it together.

I have a lot of ideas on other ways to use this file so you will definately see more projects using these adorable boots :) I love that they can be used for a lot of occasions and you can change the look and theme just by your paper choices!  I don't have a cutting machine but Regina creates these files so they are easy for everyone to use! They come with a PDF version for you to hand cut and they match up perfectly!

I also posted this card on the Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog. This week's theme is ANYTHING GOES and The Cutting Cafe is the special sponsor this week! Be sure to visit the challenge blog and play along ... and don't forget to visit The Cutting Cafe and get this file... trust me - You will LOVE creating with it :)

Also... be sure to visit The Cutting Cafe Blog this Wednesday and see ALL the fun samples created by the Design Team using these cute boots!

Happy Stampin'
Laura

Inspirations from Olivia & Jackie!

Good Afternoon All!

Hope you had a great Holiday Weekend! Mine started off ok and then I had to leave town unexpectedly for a family emergency. I have been gone helping take care of my Grandma (yes my cuppycake Grandma :)  She has cancer and she fell and hurt her back and cut her thumb pretty good making her hand really sore. So she was having a hard time getting around and I went to stay with her until my Mom was able to. So I am just getting back and trying to catch up on my posts and emails!

Since I had to leave I missed getting Jacqueline's and Olivia's inspirational projects posted and I still want to share them with you because they are SUPER ADORABLE!!

Here is Jacqueline's...she created another AWESOME Christmas Creation!

Jacqueline used the gorgeous Peace On Earth set from the Crissy Armstrong Collection from Whimsy Stamps. I bet this is just stunning in real life because she used Dazzling Diamonds on the wings! I really need to get started on my Christmas Cards - LOL! First I need to try and get through one week of my life without falling behind on something :) We will be starting to add some Christmas Stamps from Whimsy soon :)

Here is Olivia's Super Cutie...

Olivia created this fun card using the Chef from the Kenny K Collection from Whimsy Stamps. She paper peiced her outfit with some cute cherry paper! LOVE THAT! I love the colors that Olivia chose with her ribbon and background paper. This is going into my favorite favorites file :) I love to make scrapbook recipe cards and things so it will be fun to use this as inspiration :)

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry that the post was late! I hope that you are inspired as well by these two fabulous ladies!

Happy Stampin!
Laura