Polkadoodles and The Shabby Tea Room (take 2)

Ok, let me start by saying that I am taking a big chance posting this card today because I should be sleeping right now!  I worked last night and I should have gone to sleep hours ago!  When my family sees this post and realizes that I'm still awake they are going to be soooooo mad!!  LISA YOU NEED SLEEP!!!  They are not wrong but they don't understand my obsession!! 

Ok, enough of my blabbering, today I made a card for 2 different challenges.  The first one is a cute challenge blog named Polkadoodles and their challenge this week is called Sew and Sew.  They want to see some sewing on the card.  I love to sew and I keep my sewing machine out and frequently add stitching to my cards.  I love the look it gives them and it adds interest!  This card has been hand sewn around the edges and the top embellishment has been sewn into place.  The background of the card is a vintage piece of paper from an old French dictionary.  Don't you just love it?!?

The second challenge is of course one of my favorites!!  I already entered a card at The Shabby Tea Room this week but I couldn't help but to enter this one too!  My main focus on this card is the polka dot apron on the front and this week their challenge was to use polka dots.

 

I just love my new stamps from Papertrey Ink, they are called Just For You and they are so darn cute!  Check them out here.
Well, that's all for now, I hope you all like this card as much as I do.  I think it just might be my favorite card yet!

Ok I hope I make it upstairs without falling asleep on the stairs!
Have a great day, I already am!!
♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

Die Cute Dreams and Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge

Good afternoon everyone!  I spent the afternoon doing what I love... Making a card!  I just adore these handmade flowers made from pages of old novels.  They just have such a shabby vintage feel, I can't get enough!  Die Cut Dreams challenge this week was to use a sentiment but no stamped image.  I thought it would be a perfect way to showcase this beautiful flower!  Also I stumbled upon a new challenge this week called Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge or (FTTC68) for short.  Their challenge this week was to make your own flower.  That has to be one of my most favorite things to do in my craft room!  I have made so many different types, I don't know which is my favorite???  Anyway, I love how this card turned out and yesterday I bought a new item at Michaels to display my cards on when I am taking pictures of them.  My card above is sitting on it and can you guess what it is?  I saw it on a blog that I frequent and when I e-mailed the lovely blog owner Mona Pendleton, she promptly e-mailed me back with the answer.  Wasn't that sweet!  She has a beautiful blog with some lovely cards and you can find it here.  It's called Cupcake Creations, isn't that cute???   Anyway, did you guess??  It's actually a candle topper and Michaels had them in a few different colors in the candle aisle.  How clever is that?  Anyway, I think it showcases the card nicely, don't you?  It's amazing what you'll find in the blogosphere!  New ideas and some very kind people!  Thanks Mona!

Have a wonderful day everyone!  I already am!

♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

The Shabby Tea Room and Card Patterns

Good evening everyone!  I know that Debbie over at The Shabby Tea Room is inside my head.  The reason I know this is because her themes always pertain to something that I LOVE!!!  It's either pink or glitter or polka dots or shabby chic or teapots...  I know I used to live in the Victorian era in a previous life because that is the style that I love the most!  Well, Debbie did not let me down this week again.  Look at the precious photo she used for inspiration this week... 

Could you just die from cuteness???  Well, tell me, could you???

There was only 9 trillion possibilities of ways that this could be expressed in a card but of course you can't get 9 trillion embellishments on a card...........can you????  Anyway as you can see at the top of my post I settled on a beautiful image of a teacup with flowers and a fun polka dot background.  Of course this card called for some gorgeous crocheted flowers that my mom makes me.  I keep them in jars in my craft room by color.  She always checks my supply and replenishes the colors that are running low!  What a mom!!

I needed some direction as to where to go with this card so I used the great sketch #65 over at Card Patterns this week!  It looks like this.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the way the card turned out but I have to say that I will be having visions of teapots and polka dots for weeks to come...  Imagine the possibilities!!!!!!!!!

Have a great night everyone, I'm off to bed........

{hugs} Lisa

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop and Challenge

Well, I missed the blog hop over at Papertrey Ink last night :-(               I got the dates mixed up and I thought it was tonight. Oh well, I won't make that mistake next month! I am still going to enter the card that I made into the May challenge. The challenge this month was to use felt! I love all of the Papertrey products but the felt is especially yummy! It's so soft and it cuts so well! On my card I used the Raspberry Fizz and Vintage Cream felt for the clouds and the flowers. I just received the PTI cloud dies in the mail today and I couldn't wait to use them! I can't wait to check out all of the other entries and see how they are using their felt!  Have a great May everyone! 

{hugs} Lisa ♥

Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge #9 - Memorial Day

Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge #9 - Memorial Day

It's Wednesday again and that means another fun challenge over at Isabella's Sketchbook!

This week we would like you to make a card with a patriotic theme with your country's colors.

In the United States, next week is Memorial Day, a day where we remember the veterans who fought for our country and honor the soldiers who are still fighting today.  Your card can be in red, white and blue or if you prefer, it can showcase the colors of your specific country.  Memorial day also conjures up images of summer, cookouts and picnics so your card could also relfect that theme!  Remember you must use an image from Isabella's Digi Boutique for all challenges.  There are over 200 images to choose from so you are sure to find one that you love!  Depending on the amount of entries we have for this challenge our talented design team may choose one winner this week!  Tell all of your creative card making friends to check out this week's challenge and enter their card along with you!  The winner will receive 2 free images and the "I Won" badge for thier blog!  Get your creative mojo on and let's see what you come up with!!!

My cupcake card above uses Isabella's July 4th cupcake image which you can find here among

many other patriotic images!  Don't forget to check out all of the other cards that our amazing design team has created for inspiration!  We have some very talented ladies over there!!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

♥♥♥{hugs} Lisa♥♥♥

♥♥♥SHABBY TEA ROOM WINNER♥♥♥

WOW!!!  I just had to share some great news with anyone who might be interested!!!  I've won my first card challenge and it happened at one of my favorite challenge blogs!!!  THE SHABBY TEA ROOM!!!  My vintage patriotic card took first place in the week # 10 Stars and Stripes challenge and I'm so excited!!!  I must say it is nice to be recognized for doing what you love!!!  There are so many talented card designers out there and it is an honor to be among them!!!

Also this week I was recognized in 2 other challenge blogs

I was a top 3 pick, for the second week in a row at the Die Cut Dreams "Lace It Up" Challenge for my "Loving" card
and
I was also a Super Six pick at the Card Patterns Challenge for sketch 64 which was also my "Loving" card.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog or just stops by to view a few cards and leave some lovely comments!!
Have a great day!!  I already am!!
{hugs}♥♥Lisa♥♥

!

Exciting News and Embellish Magazine

Tonight I am very excited and I have some great news!  For the second week in a row I made the top 3 in the Die Cut Dreams weekly challenge!  It's nice to see your name "up in lights" so to speak, well, it's my version of "up in lights".  LOL  It's nice to be recognized for doing what you love to do... 

And speaking of loving what you do and being recognized, there is an amazing designer named Ashley Newell and I have been following her blog daily for quite some time now!  Her gorgeous cards have been published in many magazines (a total dream of mine)!  She has a wonderful clean and classic style and her blog is beautiful!  Recently, Ashley began publishing an online crafting magazine named Embellish Magazine.  It is a terrific magazine that you can access online for a small fee and it has gorgeous pictures, great inspiration by the design team and fun challenges.  My card above is for their challenge this week and it is called Butterflies Color Challenge and it is sponsored by Skipping Stones Design.  The color challenge is to use black, green and kraft colors as in the picture shown below.  I can tell I am going to enjoy reading this new magazine, following their blog, and joining in their weekly challenges!  Good luck Ashley, I wish you all the best with your new endeavor!
♥♥♥{hugs}Lisa♥♥♥

Butterfly Card Supplies

Stamps: PTI Background Basics Text Style, inque boutique What A Feeling.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink.

Punches: Martha Stewart small and large butterflies and lace border, Marvy scallop circle punch.

Twine: Basic twine from Michaels.

Pearl Embellishments: Recollections from Michaels.

Embossing Plates: Swiss Dots by Cuttlebug

Card Positioning Systems Sketch 168

Good Evening!  Another sketch this week over at CPS, #168.  I love their sketches because they seem to be so easy to incorporate any theme and so practical!  I was in a butterfly mood today as you can see above and I just LOVE my little butterfly punch from Martha Stewart!  The background script stamp is from PTI Background Basics : Text Style.

The sketch this week looks like this.  Thanks for stopping by!  ♥♥♥Lisa

Unscripted Sketches #55 - Shabby Flower

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I made this card today and I have to say I love the way it turned out!  Very vintage which of course is my FAV!!!  The flower was so much fun to make.  First I stamped, with brown ink, my script background stamp from Papertrey Ink onto some pink tissue paper and then I punched out some flowers with my circle scallop punch.  I punched two 2" circles and two 1 1/2" circles and then put a brad through them to hold them together.  I then scrunched all of the flowers together and opened them back up.  I finished it off with a pearl accent in the middle.  It has a very shabby feel and I love the results!   I am entering this card in the Unscripted Sketches challenge this week, #55 which can be seen below.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day!
I already am!!♥♥

{hugs} Lisa

2s4y Laura's Sketch #52

Once again, it's the middle of the night, 2:30 to be exact, and I should be sleeping, but am I??? Of course not! I just can't help it, it's so peaceful in the middle of the night and sometimes my best inspiration comes at 3 a.m. One of my favorite challenges is the weekly sketch at 2s4y and this week Laura's sketch had a huge scalloped circle in the center. I love those scalloped circles! They give such a finished look to a card and I love finding just the right patterned paper to punch them out of! Here is Laura's Sketch #52 and my card can be seen above.

I have fallen in love with apron clipart lately and I've been looking for cute aprons.  I ordered the new Papertrey Ink Homemade stamps and it has a cute apron image in it but it hasn't arrived yet.  Also, Isabella's Sketchbook has some absolutely darling apron images to choose from and you can check them out here.  The apron on this card is just a random image that I picked up along the way on my neverending journey across the web!  I am SOOO ready for bed now!  Have a great day everyone and I'll see you real soon!

{hugs} Lisa♥♥♥

Isabella's Birthday Card Challenge #8

Good morning to everyone!  It is a Wonderful Wednesday morning so you know what that means...  It's challenge day over at Isabella's Sketchbook.  This week the challenge is to create a birthday card using any one of Isabella's images.  There are soooooo many cute images to choose from so head on over to her store and browse a bit!  This week I chose the image titled "Cake Tower" to make my birthday card!  I love how the cake looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it's so adorable.  I chose to use soft colors on my card to give it a slightly vintage feel.  Make sure to head over to Isabella's Challenge website and look at the cards that the rest of the DT has made, they are just gorgeous and will give you the inspiration you need to start your own creation!  I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

The winner will receive
2 free images from Isabella's store
The beautiful "I Won" badge! 
And this week Isabella is also including the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder "Lace Tree"

Good luck and  have a great week!
♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

Patriotic Meets Shabby Chic

What happens when Patriotic

meets Shabby Chic?

Week #10 at The Shabby Tea Room is titled Stars and Stripes and their challenge is to make a card using Red, White and Blue and be inspired by the Grand Ol' Flag!  This week I taught myself how to make those cute accordion folded medallion/flowers and I thought this would be the perfect card to use them on!
I am also entering this card in the "Just Us Girls" challenge this week.  Their theme is red, white and blue as well in honor of Memorial Day!

This card is in honor of all of the brave Men and Women fighting for our country every day!  May they all come home safe and be returned to their families!  God Bless America!!

Have a wonderful day!

♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Monday, May 17th and Happy Birthday To Me!!!  What a wonderful  birthday it is!  I woke up last night to do my nightly blog crawl (at 12a.m. it's a crawl not a hop) and I found out that my card from last week was recognized on 2 different websites.  It was one of the top 3 at Die Cut Dreams  and it got an honorable mention at The Shabby Tea Room!  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!  This was the very first time one of my cards was noticed in a challenge (actually 2).  It's very exciting and now my new goal is to actually win one!

 

Which brings me to my next order of business.  The card I made last night was so much fun!  There were two challenges I was working towards and this card is for both of them.  The first one is the Die Cut Dreams Challenge.  Their challenge this week was to use lace.  Not a problem, I LOVE LACE! The second challenge was from Card Patterns and it was their sketch # 64.

 









I toiled over this card for a couple of hours to get it just right and I'm very happy with the way it turned out!  I hope you like it too!  The sentiment is just perfect too, I am LOVING this wonderful world of cardmaking!  Have a wonderful day, I'm already having one!
♥{hugs}♥ Lisa

Shabby Tea Room Chipboard Challenge

I think my first love when it comes to style is definitely "Shabby Chic"!  Although I love to experiment with other styles I always come back to the vintage, shabby, carefree style of Shabby Chic!  The Shabby Tea Room has become one of my favorite blog/challenge websites because of this love!  This week at TSTR is week #9 and it is a chipboard challenge.  Lord knows I have my share of chipboard but to pick only one for a card was a challenge in itself!  I settled on a beautiful little butterfly from Tattered Angels and sprayed it with pink glimmer mist for some added shine.  You can't go wrong with Prima flowers so I embellished the butterfly with 2 mini roses and placed one large glittered rose on top!  The stick pins from Maya Road have also been a favorite of mine lately and they remind me of something I might have found in my grandmother's attic if I had the chance to look!  I also love the combination of the pink color with the kraft paper.  I got the new Damask stamp set from Papertrey Ink yesterday so I stamped the pattern on to some Sweet Blush cardstock from PTI as well.  I am very happy with how the card came out and I am entering it in TSTR this week and 2 other challenges:
The City Crafter Challenge Blog - week # 4 colors challenge
and
Die Cut Dreams - challenge #47 Shabby Chic (How Appropriate!)
That's all for now, have a great day and do something creative today!
♥♥♥Lisa

Isabella's Color Challenge - Week #7

Good morning everyone!  I hope your week is going well!  Here we are again on a beautiful Wednesday morning with Isabella's new weekly challenge.  Challenge # 7 is a color challenge - using one or any combination of beautiful colors on Isabella's Challenge Blog header.  Here is a picture of that header with those vibrant colors.

The DT over at Isabellas came up with some beautiful cards this week to give you some inspiration so check them out and visit their blogs, they are gorgeous!  All you have to do to play is go to Isabella's amazing store and you will find lots more inspiration!  Pick out an image and create a card using that image and those wonderful colors!  You could win 2 free digi images and the I Won Badge!  Here is my card below.  I used the image "A Place To Dream".  I loved those curtains so I printed them out on floral paper and cut them out and popped them up off of the card, so much fun!!!  I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with this week!  Have fun!!
♥♥♥Lisa

2s4y Kazan's Sketch 52

I absolutely LOVE this card and all the technique that went into it!  The flower was punched from an old novel and sprayed with glimmer mist then scrunched for added interest and the background of the card was made to look like faux silk.  It's hard to see in the picture but I had so much fun making it!  The scalloped edges at the bottom of the card were my favorite!  It looks like a pretty ruffled dress!  Thanks Kazan for the inspiration!  This card is for 2s4y's sketch this week Kazan #52 and their sponsor this week is Whimsy Haven.  Below is the sketch that I worked off of.  Enjoy your day everyone and I'll be back soon!

♥♥♥ Lisa

Card Patterns Sketch 63

One more blog entry for the day to post another card for the Card Patterns Challenge Blog (sketch 63).  This was a very versatile sketch to play with and it could be interpreted so many ways.  Their sponsor this week is The Stamping Boutique!  One of my favorite tools in my collection has to be my scalloped edge border maker!  I think it makes such a nice clean edge and it looks pretty with any paper, solid or patterened!  I've had this cardstock flower image in my drawer forever and I thought it would make a nice focal point for this card!  Below is the sketch from Card Patterns that I based my card off of!  Have a wonderful day everyone!
♥♥♥Lisa

CPS Sketch #166 Challenge

Good Morning Everyone!!  Now with the Mother's Day cards out of the way for another year, it's on to some fun cards and some more fun challenges!  CPS has a fun and funky sketch this week that I thought would be fun to play with!  This week's prize is sponsored by: JustRite Stampers.   I have had some cute clipart in my computer for a while that I've been dying to play with and I got some inspiration from the talented Lea Lawson over at CPS!  I love her blog and the name of her blog "Lea's Cupcakes and Sunshine".  Her happy rainbow card reminded me of the clouds and rainbows in my collection so I thought I'd give it a whirl!  Thank you Lea!!  To the left is my card and below is the card sketch that I was working off of!  I hope you all have lots of happiness and rainbows in your life this week and always! 
♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

Mother's Day Card

Well, Mother's Day is right around the corner and the original card that I made for my Mom was pretty and of course my Mom saw it right after I made it like ALL the cards I make but....  I wanted a special card that she wouldn't actually see until Mother's Day.  A card that was special enough for her, since she is so special to me!  My Mom is my best friend and without her in my life I know that I would go insane.  So in honor of my Mom on Mother's Day and always, I Love You Mom and on Sunday you will have in your hands this beautiful creation!!!  And by the way Mom if you read my blog before Sunday consider it your sneak peak!!
I Love You,
♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.com/2010/05/challenge-2-for-that-special-someone.html

http://bobunny.blogspot.com/2010/04/card-challenge-tuesday.html

http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/2010/04/challenge-49-april-showers-bring-may.html

http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/2010/05/reader-ideas-week-of-5210.html

Sparkling Cider

Just a quick post today to add a card to my blog.  I've been making teacher cards lately since it is Teacher Appreciation Week at my kid's schools.  The Shabby Tea Room is having a challenge this week entitled
"Get Your Bling On" so that's just what I did.  I decided to glitter up some apples for the teacher's cards to give them some pop!  Here is the card and have a lovely day!!
Lisa

Isabella's 6th Weekly Challenge Honoring Mothers!

Good Wednesday Morning To Everyone!!

So glad to be back home in Florida where the weather is beautiful!  My daughter and I were in Nashville over this past weekend and managed to fly home on Sunday despite the bad weather.  We made it out just in time as now we are seeing the images on TV of the mass flooding!  We found out that the hotel we were staying in was evacuated due to flooding.  My thoughts and prayers are with all of the people who are still dealing with the aftermath of that terrible storm!

On a lighter note here we are at our sixth weekly challenge over at Isabella's Sketchbook!  We had 15 beautiful entries for our first challenge and saw some lovely cards made by some talented ladies!  Thank you to everyone who played along, we hope to see you back this week again!  This week Isabella is sponsoring   a challenge honoring mothers, the winner will be chosen by random, and will receive 2 images over at Isabella's store and the I won badge!  Head on over to Isabella's store and pick out the digi image that most reminds you of those wonderful women we call Mom, and enter your card in our challenge!  Isabella has been busy adding new images to the store and you are sure to find the perfect one!

Here is my card for this week's challenge honoring mothers.  It uses the image "A Trusted Friend" over at Isabella's store.

There are about 200 digi images to choose from at Isabella's store so head on over and pick out your favorite and make sure to link your creation to our new challenge!  Who knows??  You may win 2 free images from the store this week!  Can't wait to see everyone's cards!  Have a great week everyone!
♥♥♥Lisa♥♥♥

I have also entered my Mother's Day card in the following challenges!

http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-week-17-pretty-pastels.html


http://dareu2digistamp.blogspot.com/

http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.com/

http://digidoodleshopsbest.blogspot.com/2010/04/anything-goes-challenge-5.html

http://2sketches4you.blogspot.com/

http://stampinbsdesignteam.blogspot.com/
http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/
http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com/
http://stamptacularsundaychallenge.blogspot.com/